WHEN we think of terrorists, we immediately think of foreign faces – of Al Qaeda converts being groomed in far-off training camps.

But the terrifying case involving Nicky Davison at Newcastle Crown Court shows that terrorism is not about nationality but mentality.

Davison was not raised in Pakistan or Afghanistan. He learned his hatred as a milkman’s son in an ordinary- looking County Durham home.

But, it was far from an ordinary upbringing.

He had the misfortune to have a violent, extremist monster for a father.

We should all have sympathy for any child growing up with such a role model – a man with abhorrent views about ethnic minorities and who fully intended to use deadly ricin.

But while his father’s influence is certainly mitigation, it is not an excuse.

At 19, Nicky Davison was old enough to have a mind of his own and to know right from wrong.

He could have rejected his father’s teachings but instead became a leading member of a neo-Nazi group with terror documents in his possession.

Father and son will be sentenced, and surely locked away, when they reappear at Newcastle Crown Court on May 14.

Violent extremism in all its forms must not be tolerated and we congratulate the Durham Police officers whose hard work ensured that this evil plot did not end in tragedy.

The convictions of the Davisons should be celebrated – and act as a graphic reminder that the potential for terrorism is all around us.