Loose connections stopped detonation

Dramatic footage revealing how two car bombs could have been detonated in London's West End was shown to a jury in the trial of a former Shropshire doctor.

Government scientists painstakingly recreated the hand-made electrical triggers at their Kent laboratory.

They filmed one detonator, made up of a vehicle bulb surrounded by match heads, bursting into flames when connected to a battery.

Prosecutors at Woolwich Crown Court said the fire was intended to spark petrol vapour in the vehicle causing nearby gas canisters to explode.

But the jury heard the bombs failed to go off because mobile phone initiators did not work.

Bilal Abdulla, 29, and former Royal Shrewsbury Hospital doctor Mohammed Asha, 28, are on trial accused of conspiracy to murder and cause explosions. They deny the charges.

The prosecution claim Asha bought the equipment and the cars used in the attacks and was the "mastermind" behind the "terrorist cell".

Kim Simpson, of the Forensic Explosives Laboratory, said there was a loose connection between the phones and the deadly circuit.

Mrs Simpson said as a result the phone would receive a call, but it would not generate a charge to trigger the bomb.

The men were arrested after two Mercedes cars packed with petrol, gas canisters and nails were parked in central London last June.

A green Jeep Cherokee, filled with a similar cargo, was driven into Glasgow Airport the next day.

Scientists undertook a fingertip examination of the vehicles at Fort Halstead, Kent.

Mrs Simpson was responsible for studying the mobile phone detonators.

Hundreds of nails were also discovered inside the vehicles and in bags close to the propane gas cylinders.

Mrs Simpson added: "My conclusion was that with the clout nails the effect would be to contribute to any shrapnel effect of the device by increasing the risk of death or injury to passers-by."

By Kirsty Smallman