A FORMER classmate of suicide bomber Germaine Lindsay has told how the mass murderer tried to "brainwash" vulnerable teenagers at school.

Daniel Mullins, 19, was in the same forms as Lindsay, also 19, for three years at Rawthorpe High School.

A shocked Daniel told the Examiner how the previously outgoing Lindsay changed.

He said: "He was a bit of a joker and very good at sports.

"He was a really fast sprinter and played for the school football team.

"But he got into hanging around with a group of Asian lads and got into their religion."

Daniel, who still lives in Rawthorpe, added: "He became really distant. He changed.

"He was talking about Al Qaida and preaching.

"He used to wear a Walkman all the time and not speak."

Daniel, who is training for work in IT, said Lindsay used to try and convert people.

He added: "He used a room at break-times and lunchtimes for prayers.

"It was used by some kids who had learning problems and things like that.

"He used to try and put pressure on them to convert to be a Muslim.

"It was like he was trying to brainwash them or something.

"Germaine was quite assertive and people used to listen to what he said."

Daniel said he heard the news about his former schoolfriend's involvement in the London attacks when he was on a bus.

He added: "When they said West Yorkshire his name just popped into my head.

"Germaine was assertive and wanted to be tough.

"He was always arm-wrestling or punching walls at school to see if he could make a bigger mark than other pupils.

"It's like he was so assertive, could he have been the leader of the group or been more involved.

"You just can't believe that someone who you went to school with would do that," he added.

* A former schoolfriend of Lindsay recalled his move towards extremism.

Adam Keating, 19, of Rawthorpe, said he can remember Lindsay - who changed his name to Jamal - listening to a tape given to him by a Muslim fellow student at Rawthorpe High.

"A few of us were given the tape, but I gave it straight back. I was not interested in it," he said.

"The tape was all about Islam and the Muslim faith. It was at that time he really started to change.

"I am not saying it was that tape which turned him. But it sticks in my memory because he changed dramatically around then."

Adam remembers 19-year-old Lindsay, who killed 26 people in the King's Cross bombing, as a "normal lad" at school before his sudden switch to radical Islamic beliefs.

"All of a sudden he became very quiet and withdrawn. He would talk to other pupils about being a Muslim.

"Before that, he was like the rest of us and a good student. He was very good at sport and German.

"After we came back from the summer holidays and started our final year Germaine had become very strict.

"He used to talk about doing the right thing and did not like other pupils drinking or smoking.

"He would tell them not to drink or smoke, because it was bad for them. Soon he was praying in empty classrooms three times a day.

"But nobody would say anything to him. Germaine was a big lad and nobody messed with him.

"Some of the other Muslim students were saying things like: `Why is he praying so much? We don't even do that much'. But mainly everyone left him alone.

"I am shocked he would do something like this. But thinking back now it was clear he was taking his religion to the extreme."

* A different image of Lindsay emerged today.

It came from a young woman who was at school with him when she was a girl. She told how the teenage Lindsay had rescued her from an attack by other girls.

The incident happened at Rawthorpe High.

The woman said: "A lot of people have said cruel things about him since the news broke about the London bombings.

"But I remember a caring, helpful person. Yes, he did get into Islam and he did pray every day, but he was never cruel to people at school.

"He believed deeply in his religion, but he was not a bully.

"I remember I was being tormented by a gang at school and they attacked me.

"They dragged me into the toilets and started kicking and punching me and threatening to cut off my hair.

"Germaine came in and dragged me out of there.

"I never saw him again after we left school and no-one had a clue where he had gone.

"It was just such a huge shock to see what he had become," she added.