A British man admitted plotting to kill "as many innocent people as possible" in the UK and US today by targeting skyscrapers and major financial institutions in New York and Washington and setting off a dirty bomb in Britain.

"I plead guilty," said Dhiren Barot, 34, of Willesden, northwest London, as he admitted to the charge of conspiracy to murder at a hearing at Woolwich Crown Court this morning. Reporting restrictions were lifted this afternoon.

Barot pleaded guilty to conspiring with "other persons unknown" over the course of nearly four years to blow up financial institutions including the World Bank and International Monetary Fund heaquarters in Washington and the New York Stock Exchange and the Citigroup building in Manhattan.

The Prudential skyscraper, which rises next to the New York skyline across the Hudson River in Newark, New Jersey, was also on Barot's list.

Edmund Lawson, QC, prosecuting, told the court that Barot's intentions were exposed after his arrest in August 2004, when plans were found on his computer "to carry out explosions at those premises with no warning, they were basically designed to kill as many innocent people as possible".

Barot's plans to attack British targets were less specific, but included a proposal to detonate a dirty bomb - a mixture of conventional explosives and radioactive material - "to cause injury, fear, terror and chaos".

The court heard of a further conspiracy known as the "Gas Limos Project", a plan to pack three limousines with gas canisters and bombs and blowing them up in car parks.

Mr Lawson said the Gas Limos Project was the "main cornerstone" of Barot's British terror plans and the attack was intended to form part of a "synchronised, concurrent and back-to-back" series of atrocities, including the detonation of a dirty bomb.

The objective of the "Rough Presentation for radiation or Dirty Bomb Project" was to cause "injury, fear, terror and chaos" rather than casualties, Mr Lawson said. "The radiation project was designed, among other things, to affect some 500 people."

Mr Lawson said that the Government accepted that Barot's claim that he had neither the funding, vehicles or bomb making equipment to carry out the planned attacks.

"We are happy to confirm that because it’s a true statement of fact," said Mr Lawson.

Barot had faced 12 other charges: one of conspiracy to commit public nuisance, seven of making a record of information for terrorist purposes and four of possessing a record of information for terrorist purposes.

The judge ordered the charges to lie on file following his guilty plea. Seven other people face charges relating to the same alleged conspiracy. They will stand trial next year and are expected to deny the charges. Barot will be sentenced at a later date.

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