Court: 21/7 accused 'defuses bomb'

Wearing bright purple gloves, Manfo Kwaku Asiedu showed a Woolwich Crown Court jury how he opened the door, put his hand inside and pulled out the battery.

He said he then removed a tub and poured the hydrogen peroxide and flour mixture which it contained down the toilet.

Asiedu said: "I opened it slowly. When I saw the battery what I did was I put my hand (in) and I pulled the battery."

Returning to the witness box after the demonstration, he continued: "The yellow stuff - the flour that was mixed with the hydrogen - it was all ... on the floor of the (side)board. It was bubbling. I took it and I went to the toilet and I poured it in the toilet."

Several weeks ago Ghanaian-born Asiedu - whom the Crown claims is the fifth bomber who lost his nerve at the last minute - "broke ranks" and turned on co-defendant Muktar Said Ibrahim, accusing him of planning an attack "bigger and better" than July 7.

He claims Ibrahim rigged up the sideboard at the north London "bomb factory" to explode.

Asiedu, 34, of no fixed address, admits helping to buy dozens of litres of hydrogen peroxide but claims he did not know what they were for.

He and Ibrahim, 29, of Stoke Newington, north London, are among six men accused of taking part in an extremist Muslim plot to carry out a series of murderous suicide bombings on the London transport system.

The others are Yassin Omar, 26, from New Southgate, north London, Hussain Osman, 28, of no fixed address, Ramzi Mohammed, 25, of North Kensington, west London and Adel Yahya, 24, of High Road, Tottenham, north London. They all deny charges of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life.