One was a ticket inspector on London's buses who was sent to help passengers after the 7/7 bombings; another worked in Hamleys toy shop on Regent Street and a couple were avid football fans.

Two others had known each other since primary school, while one maintained that he preferred drinking beer and chasing girls over prayer and politics.

They were British, either born or raised here, with British educations and British habits, accents and mannerisms. Two were converts to Islam. But the jury was told they had learnt to hate Britain and had agreed to play their parts in a terrorist operation which, had it succeeded, would have rivalled September 11 in shocking the world.

It was part of their indoctrination that they would be lionised in parts of the Muslim world and would emulate the men known to al-Qaeda sympathisers as the "magnificent 19", the 9/11 hijackers.

THE LEAD BOMBER

Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 28, a married father of a young child, has a degree in computer systems engineering. He was born in east London and lived in Walthamstow where he knew a number of his co-defendants from school and college.

In 2004 his first son was born two months prematurely and died in hospital. Ali said the experience left him emotionally devastated.

He has a brother who works as a probation officer, another working on the London Underground and a third who is a property developer. He has been religiously devout since he was 15 when he became an adherent of the ultra-orthodox Tablighi Jamaat movement.

Ali visited Pakistan extensively and claimed that many of his trips were as a volunteer for an Islamic medical charity. But in reality he was attending training camps and meeting senior figures in militant groups.

Ali took the lead role in recruiting the would-be suicide bombers, continually motivating them and sitting with them as they recorded their martyrdom videos in the flat he had bought in Walthamstow. He discussed taking his baby on the bombing mission to reduce his chances of arousing suspicion.

Prisoners in Belmarsh jail have described Ali as the "emir" or leader of the east London group with considerable influence over other inmates.

*Guilty of conspiracy to cause explosions on aircraft, conspiracy to murder, conspiracy to cause explosions and conspiracy to cause public nuisance.

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