Sports Calendar

Mr Sweeney added that a Forensic Explosives Laboratory in Kent had carried out explosive tests using hydrogen peroxide and flour since the events of July 2005, and found the mixture exploded "on every occasion".

He added that the evidence of such extensive planning showed that the plot was entirely seperate from the July 7 attacks - and was in no way a conspiracy.

"It is our case that the events with which this case is concerned are plainly not some hastily arranged copycat, albeit, as we shall see, like 7/7, one of the bombs was deployed on a bus somewhat after the others," he said.

Mr Sweeney told the jury the prosecution's case was that the role of the first five defendants - Mr Ibrahim, Mr Asiedu, Mr Osman, Mr Omar and Mr Mohammed - was ultimately "that of would-be suicide bombers", while the sixth defendant, Mr Yahya, was "involved, at the least of it, taking part in some of the essential preparation done in furtherance of the conspiracy, albeit that he left the country nearly six weeks before July 21 and had not returned by that date".

In the event, only four of the suspects actually attempted to explode their devices, Mr Sweeney told the court, as Manfo Asiedu "lost his nerve at the last moment" and dumped his bomb in a wooded area in west London. It was found two days later, the court heard.

The other four alleged bombers conducted their syncronised explosions as planned but, although their detonators fired, their explosives failed to go off.

Afterwards, Mr Omar attempted to flee London wearing a burka, Mr Sweeney added. He was caught on CCTV at Golders Green coach station in London, and at Birmingham coach station, wearing the Muslim women's dress, and he was eventually traced to a house in Birmingham on July 27, where he was found "fully clothed, stood in a bath, wearing a rucksack on his back."

Muktar Ibrahim and Ramzi Mohammed were arrested at a flat near Notting Hill, two days later while Hussain Osman travelled to Rome, Italy, where he was arrested on July 29.

Following his arrest in Rome, Mr Sweeney said, Mr Osman claimed to police that the plot was not a serious attempt to kill commuters but "a deliberate hoax in order to make a political point".

However, Mr Sweeney told the court: "The prosecution case is that this was no hoax.

"The failure of those bombs to explode owed nothing to the intention of these defendants, rather it was simply the good fortune of the travelling public that day that they were spared."

All six defendents deny the charges. The trial continues.

Explore Law

• Columnists

• Law Panel

• Law Reports

• Student Law

Times Recommends

• The best legal yarns this Christmas
• Legal school 'earned £1m by exploiting bar course'
• Axe may fall on 5,000 more City lawyers