No verdict in the "the biggest terrorism trial in Britain since the IRA cases of the 1970s"

Omar Khyam, 25, Shujah Mahmood, 20, Waheed Mahmood, 35, and Jawad Akbar, 23, all from Crawley, West Sussex, Anthony Garcia, 25, of Barkingside, east London, Nabeel Hussain, 22, of Horley, Surrey, and Salahuddin Amin, 32, of Luton, Bedfordshire, deny conspiring to cause explosions likely to endanger life between 1 January 2003 and 31 March 2004.

Judge, Sir Michael Astill, 69 (pic -Knighted 1996) told the jury of 12 of their peers, sound men (well 5F 7M) and true, on Friday April 14th (they had been deliberating for 21 days) he would now accept a majority verdict of either 11-1 or 10-2 if they were unable to reach unanimous verdicts on all the charges.

Doesn't sound as though they are ready to agree on any basis in "the biggest terrorism trial in Britain since the IRA cases of the 1970s.". Maybe the extraordinary testimony of Mohammed Judaid Babar, a 33-year-old New York City university dropout and convicted terrorist .... When he arrived in Pakistan (where he went to learn to fight) , he said he met 15 to 20 other men, many from London and the bedroom community of Crawley. They also were there "to fight."

Do you recall the names of those men? Mr. Waters asked.

"Ausmann," better known as defendant Omar Khyam, 24.

"Abdul Waheed," -- defendant Waheed Mahmood, 33.

"Abdul Rehman," -- defendant Anthony Garcia, 27.

"Khalid," -- defendant Salahuddin Amin, 30.

"Tanweer, from London." One of the four suicide bombers who killed themselves and 52 London subway and bus commuters last July 7 was Shehzad Tanweer, 22.

This ace witness had arrived in court in a screaming police convoy that deposited Mr. Babar at the Old Bailey after retrieving him from the secret location where he is being hidden. Overhead, police and media helicopters trailed the speeding caravan to the courthouse, where it was met by a squad of intimidating London police officers wielding large black military assault rifles.

UPDATE 30/4/07 Verdict 5 guilty 2 discharged. See Posts for that date.