Suspect admits Heathrow blast plan

Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 27, said earlier plans to attack the Houses of Parliament were dropped in favour of an airport because "security was not so tight".

He told Woolwich Crown Court he was interested in Heathrow Terminal Three because it was used by several American airline carriers.

Ali said the plan allowed them to "direct action more towards America" and would gain "a lot of attention".

He said the explosion was a "publicity stunt" to attract attention to an online documentary attacking British and US foreign policy.

But he denied that the gang planned to attack aircraft with the home-made bombs constructed using instructions from the internet.

He said: "That was never our intention. When we thought about the airport it was the terminal and more specific American offices. We were trying to create a disturbance not kill anyone. We did not even think about boarding a plane, our aim was to set off a device at a terminal, cause a disturbance then release our video."

Ali, of Prospect Hill, Walthamstow, east London, is accused alongside seven other men of a terrorist conspiracy to murder thousands in attacks on transatlantic airliners.

The seven others are: Assad Sarwar, 28, of Walton Drive, High Wycombe, Bucks; Tanvir Hussain, 27, of Nottingham Road, Leyton, east London; Mohammed Gulzar, 26, of Priory Road, Barking, east London; Ibrahim Savant, 27, of Denver Road, Stoke Newington, north London; Arafat Waheed Khan, 27, of Farnan Avenue, Walthamstow; Waheed Zaman, 24, of Queen's Road, Walthamstow; and Umar Islam, aka, Brian Young, 30, of Bushey Road, Plaistow, east London.

Prosecutors said the men planned to smuggle improvised liquid bombs disguised as soft drinks aboard and detonate them. All eight men deny two joint charges of conspiring to murder and to endanger aircraft.