The man convicted of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing has been sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.

Yousef: To spend the rest of his life in solitary confinement

Ramzi Ahmed Yousef received a sentence of 240 years in jail from US District Judge Kevin Duffy.

Only close family members and lawyers will be allowed to visit him. Other restrictions mean he will be held alone for most of the rest of his life.

Yousef was found guilty of the explosion in New York and of planting a bomb which killed one person on a Philippines Airlines flight to Tokyo in 1994.

Six people died and more than 1,000 were injured in the World Trade Centre blast.

It was described as the worst terrorist attack on American soil.

Yousef was arrested in Islamabad, Pakistan, in February 1995 after fleeing from the United States.

He was convicted of the trade centre bombing in November 1997.

Passing sentence, Judge Duffy described Yousef as "a follower of death and destruction."

"It was your god, your master, your only devotion," he said.

US authorities had issued a $2m reward for Yousef's capture, whom they described as the only "professional terrorist" amongst the 20 people they arrested following the World Trade Centre bombing.

"Yes, I am a terrorist and am proud of it," he told the court.

Judge Duffy also fined Yousef $4.5m and ordered him to pay $250m in compensation to his victims

He made it clear this was to prevent Yousef benefiting if anyone was "perverse enough" to want to buy his story.

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