A would-be UK bomber and his wife have been found guilty by the Old Bailey court of plotting to carry out an explosion in London to mark the tenth anniversary of the 2005 suicide attacks that took place in the same city. Both have been sentenced to life imprisonment: a minimum of 27 years for Mohammed Rehman, and a minimum of 25 years for his ex-wife Sana Ahmed Khan.

A report by The Guardian explains the case: "Mohammed Rehman, 25, who secretly wed Sana Ahmed Khan, 24, intended to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 7/7 atrocities with blasts that would have inflicted mass casualties in either Westfield shopping centre, west London, or the London Underground."

Remarkably, Rehman took to Twitter to ask for advice on which of those two targets he should choose: "Westfield shopping centre or London underground?" Rehman asked. "Any advice would be appreciated greatly." The post carried a link to an al-Qaida press release about the 2005 London bombings. Sky News reports that Rehman's Twitter name was "Silent Bomber," with the handle @InService2Godd. As if that weren't enough, his Twitter bio read: "Learn how to make powerful explosives from the comfort of ones' bedroom." The Twitter account has since been suspended.

Sky News says Rehman was also openly searching for information about the London bombings and information on how to make bombs: "The same day [as his tweet asking for target suggestions], he trawled YouTube for London bombings and Shehzad Tanweer—one of the 7/7 bombers who he referred to as his 'beloved predecessor.' As well as buying bomb making equipment Rehman searched online for instructions to make explosives and researched violent and extreme Islamic ideology."

Curiously, Rehman seems to have expended no effort to hide his online searches for information about how to create explosives, or his plans to carry out an attack. It doesn't appear that Rehman or his wife used encryption to hide their preparations from prying eyes.

Information about this latest (failed) terrorist bombing undermines further the repeated claim that the world is "going dark" for the intelligence agencies, and that strong encryption poses a threat to society. Once again, all the information that the security services needed to stop the plot was publicly available; fortunately, in this case it was spotted and acted upon.

The Guardian's coverage reveals another interesting aspect: "The plot was one of seven that David Cameron has been briefed about by security officials as being inspired by Isis and foiled in the last year or so. The prime minister referenced the multiple attempts linked to Isis to cause mass casualty attacks as part of his justification for military action against targets in Syria."

So we now know that at least one of those seven "plots" was conducted not by a well-organised and ruthless band of terrorists, but by a lone, bumbling idiot. Perhaps some of the other six plots were similarly unimpressive, which raises the question: is the threat to UK society really so great that we must give up fundamental freedoms by allowing the UK government to bring in extreme legislation like the Snooper's Charter?