Dhiren Barot, 35, wanted to blow up a train while it travelled under the Thames and use a dirty bomb to create "another black day for enemies of Islam".

He appeared at Woolwich Crown Court today after admitting conspiracy to murder between January 2000 and August 2004.

Edmund Lawson QC, for the prosecution, outlined the case against Barot, who grew up in northwest London, saying that he had recorded footage of buildings he planned to blow up on a reconnaissance trip to the United States.

He said that anti-terrorist officers had found hundreds of items of computer material during searches in west London and other parts of Britain, including references to books that dealt with biological warfare and architecture.

Mr Lawson said: "Examination of the deleted material on one of the hard drives revealed literally hundreds of files containing research into topics such as gas explosions, home made explosives, information relevant to arson attacks and fire protection systems and other research which was plainly relevant to the terrorist plans."

Among literature recovered in the police searches was extremist Islamic propaganda and books on explosives, poisons, fire, electronics and the architecture of target buildings. References to books included titles such as ’Chemical and Biological Warfare’ and ’Hazardous Gases and Fumes’.

In a garage of a house in west London the authorities discovered the Bruce Willis blockbuster ’Die Hard With a Vengeance’. But at the end of the film is one hour and twenty minutes of video footage from a hand held video recorder shot in New York.

Mr Lawson said: "The footage is of various buildings in Broad Street, Wall Street, the New York Stock Exchange and the like with focus on the entrances, security cameras, barriers, side streets etc.

"There is also footage of Jewish buildings and a synagogue. We know now that this video was made over a weekend of the 7/8th of April 2001."

The court was then shown five short extracts from the video which contained footage of the areas mentioned. But one of the hand held films had been edited after the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Centre and included words scrolling across the bottom of the screen. It said: "This video footage was recorded during a weekend hence it does not accurately reflect a mid-week working day which is significantly busier.....since the collapse of the WTC security is greatly increased."

The clips show Wall Street from several angles as well as side streets. At one point, during the recording of New York, a male figure is seen to stand outside the New York Stock Exchange.

Mr Lawson said April 2001 was during Barot’s second US reconnaissance trip. He said that comparisons taken by facial mapping experts reveal "a number of similarities in the shape and distribution of the facial features and no significant differences." But Barot has denied that it is him.

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