Here's an interesting article from "The reg" about the trial and the possibility of the bomb plot actually happening ...
Yes, there was a viable liquid-bomb plot | The Register
One paragraph leapt out of the page for me ...
"The message is clear - the British courts are fair, or anyway their juries are. You will be given the benefit of the doubt in a jury trial, even if you are a dark-skinned bearded man with a scary name; even if you have made suicide videos and you admit up front that it was your plan to let off high explosives in a crowded public place. If the prosecutors can't prove beyond reasonable doubt that you were also going to blow up a plane, you still won't be convicted of trying to."