Majority 7/7 verdict 'acceptable'

Waheed Ali, Sadeer Saleem and Mohammed Shakil deny the charges

The judge in the trial of three men accused of helping the 7 July 2005 suicide bombers has told the jury he will accept a majority verdict.

Waheed Ali, Sadeer Saleem and Mohammed Shakil, all from Leeds, deny scouting for potential targets in 2004.

The men also deny a charge of conspiring to cause an explosion.

In Kingston Crown Court, Mr Justice Gross said the jury of 12 could reach a verdict on which 10 agreed. The jury was later sent home for the night.

It is now two weeks since the jury were sent out to consider their verdicts in the case.

A total of 52 people were killed in the attacks on London transport in 2005.

Mr Ali, 25, Mr Saleem, 28, and Mr Shakil, 32, are accused of assisting Mohammad Sidique Khan, Shehzad Tanweer, Jermain Lindsay and Hasib Hussain, in what prosecutors say was a London reconnaissance mission for the bombings.

'Social outing'

Khan, Tanweer, Lindsay and Hussain blew themselves up in four separate suicide attacks on the London Underground and a bus.

The prosecution alleges the three defendants travelled from Leeds to London with Hussain in December 2004 to conduct a reconnaissance of potential targets.

However, the three defendants have argued their trip was entirely innocent and that it was a "social outing" to allow Mr Ali to visit his sister.

All three earlier told the court they held some extreme Islamist views - including supporting militant groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

But they said their opinions fell well short of advocating suicide bombings in the UK.