With all the wild posts here don't you think that a 747-400 Captain on a 10+ hr flight over the North Atlantic at night - electing to continue to the UK - might - just might - have known what they were doing???
One wonders, did the Captain expected/calculated the unexpected head wind? Were there other unexpected issues to be expected? Mayday landing in MAN was requested to get priority to landing, so I guess there was an unexpected fuel issue after all? Things would have been viewed a lot different if the a/c had reached LHR on 3 engines without drama.