A former British Airways software engineer has been jailed for 30 years for plotting to blow up a plane.

Rajib Karim, 31, from Newcastle, used his role at the airline’s offices in Newcastle upon Tyne and at Heathrow airport to pass on sensitive information to an al-Qaeda preacher based in Yemen to target BA’s flights in the US.

Sentencing him at Woolwich Crown Court, Mr Justice Calvert-Smith described him as a committed jihadist who planned offences “about as grave as could be imagined”.

He said Karim was a “willing follower” who could have caused the death of civilians had his planning with others come to anything.

Karim, a Bangladeshi who had sought a British passport, had kept his true intentions secret from colleagues at BA, Mr Justice Calvert-Smith added.

Karim, who had a British wife and a child, was told he faced deportation after he had completed his sentence.

“It is a feature of this case that none of those who worked with you at British Airways had even the slightest notion of what was going on.”

Karim was found guilty last month of four counts of preparing acts of terrorism.

He pleaded guilty to further terrorism offences before the trial began, admitting he was involved with extremists who wanted to overthrow Bangladesh’s government.