The British Government has been ordered to pay a convicted terrorist more than £13,000 because his human rights were “violated” during police interviews over a plot to attack London.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that €16,000 (£13,600) of Ismail Abdurahman’s legal costs must be paid at the culmination of a seven-year court battle.

He hid one of the failed bombers who attempted to launch a second round of atrocities on 21 July 2005 for three days, during a nationwide manhunt that left an innocent man dead.

A panel of 17 judges sitting in the ECHR’s Grand Chamber found his rights to a fair trial and right to legal assistance had been breached by the Metropolitan Police, who initially questioned Abdurahman as a witness and failed to follow necessary procedure when he became a suspect.

A backpack used to carry explosives made from hydrogen peroxide and chapati flour is shown on the seat of a Northern Line tube train on 21 July 2005 (Metropolitan Police via Getty Images)

“The Government [has not] demonstrated compelling reasons for restricting his access to legal advice and failing to inform him of his right to remain silent,” a judgement released on Tuesday said.

“It was significant that there was no basis in domestic law for the police to choose not to caution Mr Abdurahman at the point at which he had started to incriminate himself.”

The ECHR cut Abdurahman’s award from the £36,000 his lawyers requested and did not conclude he had been wrongly convicted following the terror plot.

The verdict was agreed by 11 votes to six after lengthy consideration by judges from countries including Britain, Italy, Turkey, Spain, Macedonia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan.

Abdurahman was jailed for eight years for giving shelter to Hussein Osman – one of five extremists who attempted to bomb the London transport network on 21 July 2005.

Just a fortnight after the 7/7 attacks, they made crude devices using hydrogen peroxide and shrapnel that failed to explode when the detonators were activated.

In pictures: The 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings Show all 26 1 /26 In pictures: The 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings In pictures: The 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings 7/7 bombings anniversary Security staff and workers from Hyde Park observe a minutes silence at the 7/7 memorial in Hyde Park In pictures: The 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings 7/7 bombings anniversary People pause for a minutes silence at Kings Cross Underground station in London, as Britain remembers the July 7 attacks amid a welter of warnings about the enduring and changing threat from terrorism a decade on In pictures: The 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings 7/7 bombings anniversary Members of staff working within the grounds observe a minutes silence to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the July 7 terrorist attacks at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Wimbledon In pictures: The 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings 7/7 bombings anniversary Police officers within the grounds observe a minutes silence to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the July 7 terrorist attacks at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Wimbledon In pictures: The 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings 7/7 bombings anniversary Representatives from 7 Company, Coldstream Guards and HQ London District join the national act of remembrance for the 7th July bombings 10th year anniversary beside the Ministry of Defence Main Building in central London and led by Rabbi Major Reuben Livingstone In pictures: The 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings 7/7 bombings anniversary People observe a nationwide minute's silence on the 10 year anniversary of the 7/7 London attacks which killed 52 people, facing in the direction of a plaque and flowers laid at the location of where a suicide bomber blew themselves up during the morning rush hour on a bus in Tavistock Square In pictures: The 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings 7/7 bombings anniversary George Psaradakis (centre), the driver of the number 30 bus which was blown up in Tavistock Square, looks at floral tributes left close to the scene of the bombings in London In pictures: The 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings 7/7 bombings anniversary People stop to observe a minute's silence at Aldgate underground station, in memory of the victims of the July 7 bombings In pictures: The 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings 7/7 bombings anniversary Flowers left by the July 7 memorial plaque at Aldgate Station, London, which names those who were killed in the bombings at the station In pictures: The 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings 7/7 bombings anniversary Members of various religious groups pray during a service in St Paul's Cathedral, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the London Bombings in London In pictures: The 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings 7/7 bombings anniversary Poppy petals fall from the roof during a service in St Paul's Cathedral, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the London Bombings in London PA In pictures: The 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings 7/7 bombings anniversary A police officer looks at flowers left at Kings Cross Underground station in London In pictures: The 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings 7/7 bombings anniversary Flowers left by the July 7 memorial plaque at Aldgate Station In pictures: The 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings 7/7 bombings anniversary Boris Johnson and David Cameron place wreathes at the July 7 memorial in Hyde Park, London In pictures: The 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings 7/7 bombings anniversary David Cameron and Boris Johnson take part in a wreath laying ceremony in London's Hyde Park, in memory of the 52 victims of the 7/7 London attacks In pictures: The 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings 7/7 bombings anniversary David Cameron and Boris Johnson during a ceremony at the memorial to the victims of the July 7, 2005 London bombings, in Hyde Park In pictures: The 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings 7/7 bombings anniversary From left: Paul Crowther, Chief Constable, British Transport Police, Adrian Leppard, Commissioner City of London Police, and Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, carry wreathes at the July 7 memorial in Hyde Park In pictures: The 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings 7/7 bombings anniversary People look at flowers left in Tavistock Square In pictures: The 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings 7/7 bombings anniversary 7/7 survivor Gill Hicks (centre) arrives with flowers at Russell Square tube station In pictures: The 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings 7/7 bombings anniversary People embrace outside Edgware Road tube station, as Britain remembers the July 7 attacks In pictures: The 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings 7/7 bombings anniversary A lady carrying flowers leaves Russell Square tube station In pictures: The 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings 7/7 bombings anniversary Faith leaders promote religious unity in central London, as Britain prepares to mark 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings in which 52 people were killed In pictures: The 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings 7/7 bombings anniversary Gill Hicks, (L) a survivor of the 7/7 London terror attacks, embraces police constable Andrew Maxwell outside Kings Cross Station in London, during an event to launch a walk by faith leaders promoting religious unity ahead of the anniversary of the attacks In pictures: The 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings 7/7 bombings anniversary A memorial dedicated to the 52 people that were killed during the 7/7 terror attacks in London is pictured in London's Hyde Park In pictures: The 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings 7/7 bombings anniversary The July 7 memorial in Hyde Park In pictures: The 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings 7/7 bombings anniversary A memorial dedicated to the 52 people that were killed during the 7/7 terror attacks in London is cleaned in London's Hyde Park

They then fled Shepherd’s Bush, Warren Street and Oval Tube stations, as well as a bus in Shoreditch, while a fifth bomber dumped his device without attempting to blow it up.

Hussain, who has since been jailed for life, hid with Abdurahman for three days after the attempted atrocities, sparking a manhunt that resulted in the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes when armed police mistook him for the fugitive.

Even after a lawyer informed him of his right to challenge the prosecution’s use of a statement he made without legal advice, Abdurahman did not retract it and used it as the basis of his defence at trial.

But the ECHR found the outcome may have been “irretrievably prejudiced by the decision not to caution him and to restrict his access to legal advice”.

“The Court said that great weight had to be attached to the nature of the offences in Mr Abdurahman’s case,” a spokesperson added.

“It emphasised that the threat posed by terrorism could only be neutralised by the effective investigation, prosecution and punishment of all those involved in terrorism.”

In the same hearing, the Grand Chamber threw out appeals by three other men convicted over the terror plot.

Ramzi Mohammed, Muktar Said Ibrahim and Yassin Omar (from the left) (PA)

Muktar Ibrahim, Ramzi Mohammed and Yassin Omar – who were all jailed for life for conspiracy to murder – had launched several claims that their human rights were breached.

Making its final ruling over the case lodged in October 2008, the ECHR ruled by 15 votes to two that Scotland Yard detectives had not violated Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

All three men were arrested in the wake of the failed bombings and questioned in urgent “safety interviews” without legal advice to establish whether there was any remaining risk to the British public.

The ECHR found that the extreme circumstances created an “urgent need to avert serious adverse consequences for the life and physical integrity of the public, namely further suicide attacks” which trumped their right to legal advice.

Ibrahim, Mohammed and Omar initially denied any knowledge of the events of 21 July but later admitted involvement, while claiming the bombs had been a hoax and were never intended to explode.

But the ECHR said there was overwhelming evidence the devices were intended to “maximise injuries”, as well as of the convicts’ extremist views and advance planning.

Bus driver recalls 7/7

The judge at the men's original trial, Mr Justice Fulford, described the plot as a “viable attempt at mass murder”, adding: “If the detonators had been slightly more powerful or the hydrogen peroxide slightly more concentrated, then each bomb would have exploded.”

He said the failed 21 July attacks were inspired by al-Qaeda and were connected with the bombings that killed 52 people in London two weeks earlier.

The ECHR’s judgements will now be sent to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to supervise their execution.

The court, which is separate from the EU’s European Court of Justice, sits in Strasbourg to hear cases concerning the 47 signatories to the European Convention on Human Rights.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The British courts found that these individuals planned to bring terror to the streets of London just two weeks after 52 people were killed in the July 7 bombings. Had their plot been successful, it would have had devastating consequences.

“We are pleased that the Grand Chamber has agreed with the British courts and has rejected the appeal of the three bombers. They remain behind bars where they belong.