The London Eye and the Natural History Museum were visited during a “reconnaissance” mission by three British Muslims who helped to plan for the July 7 terrorist attacks, a court was told yesterday.

Waheed Ali, Sadeer Saleem and Mohammed Shakil visited the capital with two of the bombers who went on to kill 52 people, Kingston Crown Court was told. Mr Ali and Mr Shakil are also accused of taking trips to Pakistan with the plot ringleader, Mohammed Sidique Khan, where they trained to fight abroad.

During a two-day visit to London in December 2004, the defendants visited some of the eventual targets of the July 7 attacks, it is alleged.

Neil Flewitt, QC, for the prosecution, said that the trip was “an essential preparatory step in the revised plan to bring death and destruction to the heart of the United Kingdom”.

Mr Ali, 24, Mr Saleem, 27, and Mr Shakil, 31, all from Beeston, Leeds, are alleged to have been in London with the July 7 bombers Jermaine Lindsay and Hasib Hussain. Seven months later Lindsay killed 26 people on a Piccadilly Line train at Russell Square and Hussain killed 13 passengers on a bus in Tavistock Place.

“It is not the prosecution case that the defendants were directly involved in the London bombings in the sense that they were responsible for making or transporting the bombs,” Mr Flewitt said. “It is the prosecution case that the defendants associated with and shared the beliefs and objectives of the London bombers and so were willing to assist them in one particular and important aspect of their preparation for the London bombings.”

There were “striking similarities” between the sites visited by the group and the locations of the July 7 explosions, Mr Flewitt said. He added that there was evidence of contact with others involved in terrorist activity, travel to Pakistan and possession of material indicating a radical ideology. All the defendants admitted travelling to London but said that it was to enable Mr Ali to meet his sister, he said. Mr Saleem and Mr Shakil said that they had visited the museum, London Eye and London Aquarium “for purely social reasons”.

The court was told that Khan, Shezhad Tanweer and Lindsay carried out another “hostile reconnaissance” in June 2005. Two weeks later Khan killed six people on a Circle Line train at Edgware Road and Tanweer killed seven on a Tube train at Aldgate.

In the debris of the Edgware Road bomb, police found Khan’s mobile telephone with numbers for Mr Shakil and Mr Saleem. Mr Ali’s number was found on Lindsay’s mobile phone at Russell Square.

Mr Shakil and Khan had taken part in terror training camps in July 2003, it was alleged. Two years earlier Mr Ali is alleged to have also travelled to Pakistan with Khan - staying for more than a month.

Mr Flewitt said that Khan and Mr Shakil were met at Islamabad airport by Mohammed Junaid Baba, a convicted terrorist, and another man who used the name “Ausman”. In early 2004 the British authorities were recording conversations between Ausman and his associates.

Mr Flewitt told the jury that in February 2004 Khan, Tanweer and Mr Ali travelled from Yorkshire to Slough for a meeting with Ausman.

At another meeting three weeks later a conversation between Ausman, Khan, Tanweer and Mr Ali was recorded by authorities where they discussed travelling to Pakistan. Mr Flewitt said that the fact that Ausman, a committed terrorist, and the London bomber Khan were prepared to have such discussions in the presence of Mr Ali suggests that “not only did he have their trust and confidence but also shared their beliefs and objectives”.

All three defendants deny one charge of conspiring with Khan, Tanweer, Lindsay and Hussain and others between November 17, 2004, and July 8, 2005, to cause explosions likely to endanger lives or cause serious injury to persons in Britain.

The trial continues on Monday.

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