Charlie Hebdo attack suspect mentored by al-Qaeda terrorist linked to London's Finsbury Park mosque

One of the brothers suspected in Charlie Hebdo Paris massacre was reportedly a follower of an al-Qaeda terrorist with links to London's Finsbury Park mosque.

The suspect, Cherif Kouachi, was reportedly mentored by Djamel Beghal, a terrorist who allegedly recruited the shoe bomber Richard Reid.

Beghal is said to have recruited Kouachi while he was serving time in prison for his links to extremist organizations.

According to Express.co.uk, a former undercover spy has also said the terror at the satirical magazine's office on Wednesday - which left 12 people dead - was "the legacy" of infamous hate preachers Abu Qatada and Abu Hamza.

Reda Hassaine, who worked as an MI5 informant at the London mosque, said Beghal was a frequent visitor there in the 1990s, at the time British hate cleric Hamza was based there.

Kouachi was reportedly closer to Abu Qatada, who was once Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe and also gave sermons at the north London mosque.

Linking the radical sermons heard in London with Wednesday's slaughter, Hassaine suggested that it was the influence of their teachings on him that drove him to carry out such an attack.