A BLACKBURN student accused of plotting terrorist attacks with shoe bomber Richard Reid is trying to have the charges against him dismissed.

Sajid Badat, who studied at the Jamiatulilmwalhuda UK (college of knowledge) in Moss Street, Blackburn, will make the application during a hearing at the Old Bailey, London, on September 24.

He was charged with three terror-related offences after being arrested at his home in Gloucester last November by anti-terrorist branch police officers.

His room at the Blackburn college was searched, along with a house in Audley belonging to his grandparents.

Badat, 25, was charged with three offences - conspiring with Reid and others unknown to cause an explosion and two further offences of possessing explosives.

He appeared before the Old Bailey last year and was due to enter a plea this April, but the hearing was postponed.

Today, Old Bailey officials confirmed Badat's legal team had applied to have the charges against him dismissed and that a hearing was due to take place on September 24.

Badat had completed almost half of a five-year course at the Blackburn college but left of his own accord last summer.

The college, which has 350 pupils aged 11 upwards, gained national notoriety after the police raid.

But its governors have since tried to dispel the negative publicity by opening its doors to Blackburn MP Jack Straw.

After his visit, Mr Straw said the college's message was one of "peace, brotherhood and respect".

Reid, 29, from London, is serving a life sentence in America for trying to ignite explosives hidden in his shoes on board a jet.