Gavin’s Gaily Gigest

This week eight men have gone on trial in Woolwich Crown Court for conspiracy to destroy at least seven transatlantic airplanes mid-flight in a plot of terrifying complexity and sophistication, a charge they deny.

If the prosecution are to be believed, more than 1,500 passengers and crew would have been killed on flights taking off in the space of three hours from Heathrow airport. The men planned to smuggle on board liquid explosives hidden in bottles of Lucozade and Oasis, with the detonating chemical disguised in hollowed-out AA batteries. The prosecution told the jury:

"The adapted battery would then be plugged using a foam disc or some such similar object. The electric element, with tail leads, such as an adapted miniature light bulb or similar heat source, with the element exposed, would then be connected to a power source such as a disposable camera or the like.

"This, a disposable camera or such power source, was then used to initiate the detonator. Easily assembled, we say, once you have the component parts all at hand."

To evade detection, the soft drinks bottles would have been painstakingly emptied through a small hole drilled in the base of the product and the explosives then introduced using a syringe. The base would then be resealed using a glue or similar, leaving the top intact, creating the illusion that it was an unopened bottle that could have just been purchased in airport.

They planned to detonate the first device once all the flights were in the air in a sequenced attack that the police and security services would have been powerless to prevent. Thankfully, however, the plot was discovered months before it could be carried out, they were arrested, charged and are now on trial. All this under the current policing powers. In fact, all but one of them were arrested and charged within 12 days (the eighth being charged on the 19th day).

Is 28 days enough? You bet it is, so sign the Downing Street petition, not a day longer:

"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Stop seeking to further extend pre-charge detention."