Would-be London bombers enter not-guilty pleas

London: Five men today denied plotting to blow up tube and bus passengers in London on July 21 last year.

They were arrested after bombs in rucksacks failed to go off on trains at three Underground stations and on a bus.

Another device was found in bushes near Wormwood Scrubs.

The men, all from London, are being held in two prisons and appeared via video link at the Old Bailey.

Muktar Said Ibrahim, 27, Ramzi Mohammad, 23, Yassin Omar, 24, Hussain Osman, 27, and Manfo Asiedu, 32, are charged with conspiring, together and with unknown people between January and July last year, to murder and to cause explosions likely to endanger life or cause serious damage to property.

They are also charged with possessing an improvised explosive device with intent to cause explosions likely to endanger life or cause serious damage to property.

Ibrahim faces a charge of attempting to murder passengers on a No. 26 bus.

Mohammad, Omar and Osman face separate charges of attempting to murder passengers on the Underground system on the same day.

Pleas

Each defendant pleaded not guilty to all the charges. Their trial is due to start on October 3.

A sixth man, Adel Yahya, 23, from London, was remanded to another hearing in June.

He was charged with conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life but did not enter a plea.

The suspects appeared on two giant screens at No. 1 court. The screens were split into four segments, showing Osman at Woodhill prison in Milton Keynes, Asiedu and Mohammad in one room at Belmarsh prison in Woolwich and the other three defendants in another.

In the fourth segment of the screen, the camera switched between the judge, Justice Fulford, the clerk reading the charges and the large number of counsel sitting in three rows.

Each defendant was dressed casually in open-neck shirts and jackets. Proceedings were held up for 10 minutes when the judge discovered that the defendants could not hear clearly what was being said in court.

Eleven other people also appeared on a video link from their prisons for two other court hearings at the Old Bailey.