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It also gives a fascinating insight into how Al-Qaeda recruits its members in Britain. Far from searching out the religious fanatics who might be known to the authorities, the terrorists’ talent-spotters frequent mosques to seek out those involved in petty crime or those who are in such trouble that they might feel their lives are not worth living. Al-Qaeda preys on these weaknesses.

The young man who had dreamt of becoming a cricketer but instead found himself drowning in debt was in many ways an ideal candidate. Short and mild-mannered, he has handsome, almost pretty, features and a British passport that allowed him to enter the United States with no visa.

Born in Burnley, Lancashire, the third of four children, he was still a baby when his family moved back to their home village near Attock in Pakistan. Not far away across the Indus River is the Haqqania madrasah, the religious school where many of the Taliban leadership studied.

His father, who described him as a quiet, well-behaved child, earned a living transporting goods and sent him to a secular school.

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Although he had never been religious, he often attended Friday prayers at Werneth mosque in Oldham. It had a radical new imam, Shafiq ur Rehman, and for the first time the unemployed waiter found himself listening.

He still has the tapes he recorded of diatribes against the “sex-craving pig” Bill Clinton and calls for Muslims to go to fight jihad in Kashmir or Afghanistan. “Afterwards the mullah asked for money for the Taliban and everyone used to give money — £2, £5, £10 — which was sent to Karachi,” he said. “It used to be very open.”

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“We were taught all about the cockpit of a 767 plane, shown a model with all the switches and what they did. We were given some physical training about the best way to attack someone, and also some religious instruction about the situation in Afghanistan and other places.”

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He was not considered dangerous and was never handcuffed. The agents even played cricket with him. “We always felt he was a nice guy who got caught up in all of this,” said the retired agent.

“Had this been after September 11 it would have been very different. We would have put him in a maximum security prison.”

His father was horrified when he received a phone call from the FBI to say they were holding his son. To this day, he says, he does not know who his son was mixed up with. “They are very hard people, not like him,” he added.

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On September 11, 2001 he switched on the television to see two planes flying into the World Trade Center. “I felt terrible,” he said. “I was crying, watching it over and over again.

“I am sure in my mind that was what I was supposed to be part of. What else could it be? I was perfect, I had a British passport so could fly straight to America, no questions asked.”

He telephoned the FBI agents who had questioned him, using the numbers on their business cards: “I left messages on their answerphones, saying how sorry I was.”

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His wife, whose English is poor, still does not know about his involvement with Al-Qaeda. Last year their first son was born and the family lives in a shabby two-bedroom flat.

A pile of post includes overdue bills and summonses for court appearances about an irregularly sold van that was used in a hit-and-run accident. Last week he was arrested for allegedly stealing a car.

He insists that he is trying to make an innocent living. “My missus says it doesn’t matter, even if I only make £1 a week she doesn’t care.

“But if I was not married I think I could do very bad things. I guess I have had an escape, but I will never stop being scared they will come back for me.”