Aaaggghhhhh - the internet is great, until it's used for this sort of melodramatic hype, which is then reported in 'the press' as fact. The only facts that the OP knows is that the alert call was made - and I'd bet a month's wages that it did not use the words he quotes, thereby calling into question his recollection of even the basic facts - and that the aircraft returned to LHR. The rest is supposition and hypothesis. Return flt was quicker - about 65 kts out of the north at the moment, so might that explain it?
Tell your mates, but please don't spread ill-informed rumour and speculation, there's a good chap.
