The mother of student Damon Smith who planted a bomb on a Tube train has blamed YouTube for influencing her son.

Smith, 20, who has Asperger's, was convicted at the Old Bailey yesterday (May 3) after packing a rucksack with explosives which was left on a Jubilee line train heading for North Greenwich on October 20 last year.

Speaking at their home in Bermondsey, where Smith built his bomb, his mother Antonitza Smith, 47, said extremist material was too readily availiable on YouTube.

She said: "It should be banned. Because people with learning disabilities, if they get these funny ideas, they start copying.

"As Damon has got Asperger's, he has got access to weird sorts of topics on the internet.

"How to make a bomb - that shouldn't be on YouTube. You know, for the recipes, because people copy, especially vulnerable people.

"It can be dangerous especially if you have got autism.

"Whatever people put on YouTube, broadcast on YouTube - how to make a bomb, how to blow up a car, hacking etc - it's illegal really. So why would they put that on YouTube for?

"So really I think the government should ban that."

Asked if she blamed the website, she said: "Yes I do. If it wasn't for YouTube my son would be still here.

"Because he wouldn't know how to make a bomb.

"It's easy to access isn't it, YouTube. The government should do something.

"Because one of these days somebody could really make a bomb and actually hurt somebody.

"They have caught Damon this time as a prank.

"But there will probably be a real terrorist out there doing it by looking on YouTube, but with real explosives. That's waiting to happen really, isn't it?"

Ms Smith said: "He is like a little baby. He can't talk properly."

MORE: Anti-terror police investigating after 'suspicious item' detonated by 'bomb squad' at North Greenwich station

Asked what sparked his interest in bomb-making and extremism, she said: "It all started off, he got interested in the Quran when he was taking his GCSE.

"So my mum bought a Quran for Christmas for him.

"And he got interested in all the predictions. That was what he was interested in mostly.

"I don't know why he was interested in bombs. I suppose it was being a boy. And his Asperger's as well.

"Maybe a couple of years ago I noticed. He was showing me how to make bombs.

"I knew he was safe at home.

"People used to beat him up at school. He got bullied, he got beat up.

"He had a plate in his hand where they attacked him. They said he spoke like a girl."

MORE: Here are the pieces of the homemade bomb that jurors were told nearly blew up North Greenwich Tube station

Questioned whether she thought all of YouTube should be banned, Ms Smith said: "Yes I do. It might save another child from what my son has gone through.

"And all these Isis things like beheadings, that should come off as well.

"I think YouTube is poison personally.

"They talk about terrorism, beheadings. That shouldn't be on YouTube so young kids should see it. It's wrong.

"So the government should do something about that."

Turning to other social media sites, she said: "They bullied him on Facebook.

"I didn't really know about his Twitter account to be honest. I just knew he uploaded YouTube videos."

MORE: Teenager Damon Smith almost blew up North Greenwich Tube station with homemade bomb, court hears

Ms Smith was not in court for the verdict, as she found it "too difficult", but was "shocked" when she heard.

She added: "He was just a loner. He was alone on his computer. It was the computer I blame.

"I knew he was safe at home. As he had no friends, you see.

"All he did was play poker and watch YouTube videos. And he used to study very hard."

She said he would watch terrorist videos too.

Ms Smith said: "If something came on the news then he would have a look, but he didn't do it all the time.

"He wasn't an extremist, no. He said they are evil."