Bomb plot retrial considered

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Three of the men were convicted of conspiracy to murder - but the jurors could not agree over prosecution claims that they intended a wave of suicide bombings on flights from Heathrow Airport to North America.

UK counter-terrorism officials felt it was the strongest case ever brought in a British terror trial and were astonished at the jury's indecision, according to reports.

There were suggestions that the US may have forced the British authorities to move against the men - who were under surveillance - sooner than they wanted.

In early August 2006 Pakistani security services detained a man allegedly linked to the plot, reportedly at the request of American agencies. Peter Clarke, the retired head of Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Command, said British officials had to act in response to this arrest.

Mr Clarke said Scotland Yard decided "in a matter of minutes" to move against 20 suspects, fearing that they could destroy evidence or panic and mount a "desperate attack".

The three Islamic extremists convicted of conspiracy to murder - Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 27, Assad Sarwar, 28, and Tanvir Hussain, 27 - are now facing lengthy prison sentences. They were members of an east London al Qaida-inspired terror cell which planned to detonate home-made bombs in attacks on British targets including Heathrow Airport, the jury at Woolwich Crown Court found.

The three had already admitted planning a series of small-scale headline-grabbing bomb attacks. But, by a majority of 10 to two, the jurors rejected their claims that they did not plan to kill or hurt anyone in the blasts.

The trial lasted five months and the eight men and four women on the jury deliberated for 56 hours and nine minutes. But they could not agree verdicts on whether another four Muslim men - Ibrahim Savant, 27, Arafat Waheed Khan, 27, Waheed Zaman, 24, and Umar Islam, 30 - were also involved in the conspiracy to murder.

Meanwhile, the Government has ruled that restrictions on carrying liquids and gels in hand luggage on flights must continue despite the inconclusive verdicts.