From correspondents in the UK ENGLAND'S public prosecutor says he'll seek a retrial of three men accused of involvement in a plot to blow up trans-Atlantic airliners, following a hung jury in their court case.
The defendants are to face a third trial on the charge of conspiracy to murder, the Crown Prosecution Service said, believing it was in the public interest and there remained a realistic prospect of conviction.
Three other men were found guilty on Monday of plotting to blow up at least seven trans-Atlantic airliners using liquid explosives, which prosecutors said would have been a "terrorist event of global proportions".
The plot, foiled in 2006, triggered wide-ranging new rules on carrying liquids on commercial aircraft.
"I have concluded that, in this exceptional case, it is in the public interest to seek a further retrial," director of public prosecutions Keir Starmer said.
The three men facing a retrial are Ibrahim Savant, Arafat Waheed Khan and Waheed Zaman.
"I am satisfied that, notwithstanding the failure of two juries to agree a verdict, there remains a realistic prospect of a conviction against each defendant on the charge of conspiracy to murder," the statement said.
Explaining the unusual move of seeking a third trial, Starmer described the practice for prosecutors to offer no evidence against a defendant if two previous juries have been unable to agree as "no more than convention".
"I do not consider that it would be oppressive or unjust to seek a further retrial," he added.
At Monday's trial, ringleader Abdulla Ahmed Ali was found guilty of conspiring to murder thousands in the plot.
Tanvir Hussain and Assad Sarwar were found guilty of the same charges of plotting to carry out bombings on aircraft flying from London's Heathrow airport to cities in the United States and Canada.
Source: The Australian
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