The jury on Monday found four men guilty of conspiracy to murder

Muktar Ibrahim, 29, Yassin Omar, 26, Ramzi Mohammed, 25, and Hussain Osman, 28, were found guilty on Monday.

Their plot to detonate explosives on three Tube trains and a bus in London in 2005 was a "viable... attempt at mass murder", the judge said.

Two other men - Manfo Kwaku Asiedu and Adel Yahya - face a retrial after the first jury failed to reach a verdict.

'Devastation'

The judge, Mr Justice Fulford, said the failed attacks were clearly connected with the bombings that killed 52 people in London two weeks earlier.

"What happened on July 7 in 2005 is of considerable relevance to this sentencing.

"I have no doubt that they were both part of an al-Qaeda-inspired and controlled sequence of attacks," he said during sentencing at Woolwich Crown Court.

While the implementation of their plan was incompetent, their aim was clear - they wanted to kill and maim on a massive scale

Sue Hemming, Crown Prosecution Service

Patient wait for sentencing

He added they had designed the plot for "maximum impact" and had carried it out "with their eyes wide open".

Referring to the attacks of 7/7, Mr Justice Fulford told the court: "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."

He said the scientific evidence produced during the trial had shown the plan came "very close to succeeding".

"If the detonators had been slightly more powerful or the hydrogen peroxide slightly more concentrated, then each bomb would have exploded."

Sentences 'not too long'

None of the men could be considered for release for 40 years, he concluded.

In court to hear the sentencing was former soldier Arthur Burton-Garbett, 72, who gave chase at Oval Tube station after Mohammed failed to detonate his bomb.

We have had two world wars to fight for our freedom in this country and we can't let these sort of people get away with it

Arthur Burton-Garbett

On board the bomb train

The judge praised Mr Burton-Garbett's commitment to public duty and said he had raced up the escalator "with impressive speed".

Speaking outside court, Mr Burton-Garbett, from Morden, south London, said of the judge: "He gave them not a day too long.

"We have had two world wars to fight for our freedom in this country and we can't let these sort of people get away with it."

During sentencing, the judge criticised Arani & Co, the solicitors acting for Ibrahim and Omar, for what he called a "relentless and blistering attack" on the staff at Belmarsh prison where the two men were held.

Mr Justice Fulford said complaints made against the staff were "no more than a smokescreen".

Mudassar Arani insisted the judge's criticism of her firm was "inappropriate", but said she was unable to make public facts which she claimed would prove she had acted "in accordance with my professional duty".

She added: "HMP Belmarsh was the subject of adverse comments by HMP Inspectorate of Prisons on some of the grounds which were the subject of my complaints."

'Brutal intent'

Sue Hemming, head of counter terrorism at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said the four jailed men had seen the "devastation" caused on 7/7 and "could have been in no doubt about the consequences of their actions" on 21/7.

"These men planned a co-ordinated attack on the London transport system. Over many months they designed and built their own bombs.

"While the implementation of their plan was incompetent, their aim was clear. They wanted to kill and maim on a massive scale."

She said they had shown their "brutal intent" because they had seen what had happened on 7/7 but continued with their plan.

Ms Hemming also confirmed the CPS intended to seek a retrial for conspiracy to murder against Adel Yahya and Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, adding that they were only accused of the offences and had a right to a fair trial.