NHS Doctor Sentenced To Life In Prison

An Iraqi NHS doctor who was convicted of conspiring to murder hundreds of people by carrying out bombings in London and Glasgow has been sentenced to at least 32 years in prison.

Bilal Abdulla, 29, was convicted of plotting the homemade bomb attacks in 2007, yesterday at Woolwich Crown Court.

Abdulla's co-accused Jordanian NHS doctor Mohammed Asha was found not guilty of the same charges.

The 28-year-old was also cleared of the conspiring to cause explosions charge, however he now faces deportation.

His lawyers said Dr Asha, who remains in custody, would fight to stay in the UK so he can resume his medical career.

Prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw said Islamic extremist Abdulla, and his accomplice Kafeel Ahmed plotted murder on an "indiscriminate and wholesale scale" in attacks that would occur without warning and spread panic among the public.

The court heard Abdulla plotted to murder late-night revellers in London's West End, using two mobile phone-detonated devices.

He drove one of two Mercedes saloons loaded with gas cylinders, petrol and nails into central London, however, the bombs failed to detonate.

A day after the incident, a Jeep loaded with a similar deadly cargo was crashed into Glasgow Airport in a suicide attack.

Abdulla claimed he wanted revenge for the wars in his homeland and what he saw as Western oppression of Muslims worldwide.

Ahmed, an Indian engineer, died of wounds sustained in the attack on Glasgow airport.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner John McDowall, head of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command and Senior National Co-ordinator for Counter Terrorism, said: "Bilal Abdulla planned to murder many innocent people when he set out to attack central London.

"He and Kafeel Ahmed, who died in the attack on Glasgow Airport, wanted to capture public attention, both in the UK and abroad. They would certainly have done this had their murderous plans come to fruition."

(JM)