Bomb plot doctor faces life term

Abdulla plotted to set off car bombs in busy spots in London and Glasgow

An NHS doctor from Iraq convicted of plotting to commit mass murder in London and Glasgow is to be sentenced.

A Woolwich Crown Court jury found Bilal Abdulla guilty of plotting to set off huge car bombs with Kafeel Ahmed, who died in the 2007 Glasgow attack.

A third man, Jordanian NHS doctor Mohammed Asha, was cleared of any involvement but now faces deportation.

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

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said Abdulla's conviction underlined the "serious and sustained threat" from terrorism facing the UK.

The first attack on 29 June 2007 involved two failed car bombs left in London's West End. A day later, a burning Jeep filled with gas canisters was driven into Glasgow Airport on its busiest day of the year.

In each case, said prosecutors, it was good fortune alone that there had been no loss of innocent life.

He is very disappointed that he is still in custody after being acquitted in one of this country's biggest cases Tayab Ali, Dr Asha's solicitor

Abdulla, who will be sentenced later, is facing a life term for conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions.

The Iraqi, who was born in the UK, admitted in court that he was "a terrorist" as defined by English law.

He went on to say he believed the British government and Army could equally be accused of terrorism for their actions in Iraq.

But he added he had wanted to frighten people rather than murder them.

During the nine-week trial, Dr Asha admitted knowing Abdulla and Ahmed but denied any knowledge of their attacks.

The 28-year-old neurologist, cleared on Tuesday of plotting to murder and cause explosions, is said to be disappointed not to have walked free after his acquittal.

Jurors heard Dr Asha was on course to become a top neurologist

Speaking after the verdicts, solicitor Tayab Ali said of Dr Asha: "He wants to stay in this country and resume his medical career.

"He is very disappointed that he is still in custody after being acquitted in one of this country's biggest cases."

Dr Asha has been served with deportation papers after his highly skilled migrant programme visa expired while he was on remand.

At the time of his arrest on 30 June last year on the M6 motorway in Cheshire, Dr Asha had been working for the University Hospital of North Staffordshire, in Stoke-on-Trent.

He was living in Sunningdale Grove, in Newcastle-under-Lyme, with his wife and two-year-old daughter.

He had been due to go on holiday in Jordan with his family in mid-July last year, before taking up a post in neurosurgery at Coventry's Walsgrave Hospital.

Jurors heard Dr Asha was a strictly observant Muslim with a very bright future in neurology.

One colleague told the court he would not be surprised if Dr Asha became Britain's best neurologist.

Consultant neurosurgeon Rupert Price said he gave Dr Asha a glowing reference, the best he had ever written.