Given the extensive damage to the aircraft caused by the cowls detaching, as reported in the AAIB bulletin, it was nothing short of a miracle that G-EUOE made it back to LHR.
The only way to look at this is as a fundamental failure of processes and procedures of both BA maintenance and crew walkaround. Yes, the latches are badly placed. Yes, they may be diffucult to see. But the consequences of not checking that they are properly fastened could easily have been of the most serious kind with serious loss of life to PAX, aircrew and on the ground. Imagine the consequences of an A319 landing on central London?
Every time I hear the phrase "lessons will be learned" I wince. This type of incident had happened no less than 32 times up to July last year and Airbus made it clear then that latches should be checked carefully. How often does it have to happen for appropriate steps to be taken to prevent it?