Forty years for some, a lingering death for another

Muktar Ibrahim, Yassin Omar, Ramzi Mohammed and Hussain Osman who were convicted of the 21 July bomb plot have been jailed for life, with a minimum tariff of 40 years each. Mr Justice Fulford described their plot as a "viable attempt at mass murder”.

In reference to the 7/7bombings he said "The family and friends of the dead and the injured, the hundreds, indeed thousands, captured underground in terrifying circumstances - the smoke, the screams of the wounded and the dying - this each defendant knew. After 7/7 each defendant knew exactly what the result would be. If the detonators had been slightly more powerful or the hydrogen peroxide slightly more concentrated, then each bomb would have exploded."

I hope their sentence passes as quickly and as pleasantly as an ice age.

Meanwhile the would-be Glasgow airport bomber Kafeel Ahmed is unlikely to survive his injuries. One of the medical team treating him has described his condition as "beyond repair". Speaking anonymously the doctor said: "The prognosis is not good and he is not likely to survive. He has third-degree burns over most of his torso and limbs. It is beyond repair and because he has lost so much skin, he is now vulnerable to infection and won't be able to fight it."

I am sorry to hear this as I would have preferred his condition to be treatable so he can stand trial and be sent to prison for a very long time too.