Three British Muslims accused of conspiring with the July 7 suicide bombers have been linked by DNA and fingerprint evidence to the homes where the explosive devices were manufactured, a court heard yesterday.

The London bombers probably had help producing the explosives, carried in rucksacks, that killed 52 people as well as a number of reserve devices that were designed to be thrown, Kingston Crown Court was told.

Evidence of the presence of Waheed Ali, 24, Sadeer Saleem, 27, and Mohammed Shakil, 31, was found at the main “bomb factory” at 18 Alexandra Grove, Leeds, where explosive chemicals and a detonator were also found, it was alleged.

Neil Flewitt, QC, for the prosecution, said that Mr Ali’s DNA was found on the handle of a Nike rucksack and on a hat at the house. A trace of Mr Saleem’s blood was discovered on a pair of martial arts trousers.

DNA from Mr Saleem and Mohammad Sidique Khan, the ringleader of the July 7 attacks, was found on an asthma inhaler, it was claimed. Police also found a key that could have come from Mr Shakil’s car.

In a bedsit at 111 Chapeltown Road in Leeds, which may also have been used to construct bombs, police found fingerprints from Mr Ali and the London bomber Hasib Hussain on a chest of drawers, the court was told.

Mr Flewitt called the evidence the “final piece in the jigsaw to produce a compelling picture of their guilt”.

Clifford Todd, a scientist, had concluded that the rucksack bombs were detonated while on the floor, not on the wearer’s back. After the attacks police found more explosive devices — which appeared designed to be thrown — in a car used by three of the bombers to travel from Leeds to Luton on July 7, Mr Flewitt said.

“The presence of other [devices] suggests that the overall plan may have included provision for other eventualities if the main plan did not work out entirely as expected,” he added.

The types of bombs used on July 7 had not been found before in Britain, Mr Flewitt said. “Mr Todd seriously doubts that the four bombers could have conceived and executed [the plan] completely in isolation,” he told the court.

The defendants were also linked to an attempt to buy liquid oxygen in Batley, West Yorkshire, in March 2005, Mr Flewitt said. On that day Lindsay called Hussain and made his final mobile telephone calls to Mr Ali, Mr Saleem and Mr Shakil, it was claimed. Mr Flewitt said that the calls provided “a clear indication that it was linked to the activities of these defendants and the London bombers”.

He also gave further details of “hostile reconnaissance” by the three defendants and Hussain and Lindsay on December 16 and 17, 2004.

Mobile telephone records showed that Mr Shakil collected Mr Ali, Mr Saleem and Hussain from their Leeds homes at about 6am on December 16 to go to London, Mr Flewitt said.

Mr Ali got on the Tube at Archway station in North London and travelled via King’s Cross to Aldgate, it was claimed. Mr Shakil drove to Aldgate and then to the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, where he was with Mr Saleem. The court was told that Mr Shakil and Mr Saleem also admitted visiting the London Eye and London Aquarium, but said it was for “purely social reasons”.

Lindsay left his home in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, at 7pm that day and stopped for at least 40 minutes in the King’s Cross area. “Remember that it was Jermaine Lindsay who . . . detonated his bomb on the westbound Piccadilly Line train as it was travelling between King’s Cross underground station and Russell Square,” Mr Flewitt said. He said that Mr Ali then arranged for the five men to spend the night in King’s Cross.

In June 2005, Khan, Tanweer and Lindsay carried out another reconnaissance trip to London, the court was told. CCTV footage shown to the jury pictured them leaving Luton railway station at 8.10am, about the same time they made the journey on July 7. They were pictured at King’s Cross before visiting Embankment, South Kensington and Baker Street Tube stations. They spent four hours in London before returning to Luton.

Andrew Hall, QC, defending Mr Saleem, urged the jury to keep an open mind and focus on proof that the defendants had been part of the plan.

“There may have been — perhaps unconsciously — a pressure on the part of the authorities to bring someone to trial for these dreadful events,” he said. He added that all three defendants went to the same mosques and schools as the London bombers. He told the jury that they were not trying them for being friends of the bombers.

Mr Flewitt, however, said that the trips in December 2004 and June 2005 and the events of July 7 showed a “clear overlap between the movements of those involved” and proved that the December trip was “an important part of the preparation”.

Police arrested Mr Ali and Mr Shakil at Manchester airport in March as they prepared to fly to Pakistan to take part in jihad, the court was told. Mr Saleem was arrested later that day.

All three defendants, from Beeston, Leeds, deny one charge of conspiring to cause explosions.

The trial continues.

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