A former Shropshire doctor and his Islamic terrorist friend planned “murder on a terrible scale” with a series of car bombings across Britain, a jury was told today.

The accomplished NHS doctors wanted to “kill and nothing else” in revenge for the invasion of Iraq, Woolwich Crown Court heard.

Mr Jonathan Laidlaw QC, prosecuting, said the men dreamed of grabbing headlines around the world with al-Qaida-inspired improvised car bombs.

Mohammed Asha, 28, who worked at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital for 12 months, and Bilal Abdulla, 29, are accused of conspiracy to cause explosions and to murder in the attacks on London’s West End and Glasgow Airport last summer. They both deny the charges.

A third man, Kafeel Ahmed, died from the injuries he suffered after driving a Jeep into Glasgow Airport with Abdulla in the passenger seat.

Summing up the prosecution case at the end of an eight-week trial, Mr Laidlaw said only “fortune and fate” prevented carnage.

“This was to be murder and nothing else. It was to be murder on a terrible scale for the British public, both in London and Glasgow.

“It was to be punishment more generally for all of us in this country because of events in Iraq.

“It was not of course a plan just to commit damage to property, to set cars alight, that is not the preferred by Islamic terrorists and organisations such as al-Qaida. These vehicle-born improvised explosive devices were intended to kill and nothing else,” Mr Laidlaw said.

“It is plain from the sheer number of cars that there would be a series of attacks starting in the West End of London.

“One can see from the terrorists’ point of view the thinking behind starting the attacks in the capital.”

Asha, a Jordanian neurologist who was working at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire at the time of the attacks, said he knew nothing of his friend’s plans and was arrested as “collateral damage”.

The prosecution allege Asha helped to “mastermind” the attacks.

The trial continues.