My year in the Old Bailey

The five found guilty leave the Old Bailey under armed police escort

Lost holidays, leaving cards from defendants - the fertiliser bomb plot trial was the UK's longest terror case, so little wonder the usual courtroom barriers eroded. The BBC's Jeremy Britton, who covered the trial, explains.

Courts are a cloistered world at the best of times, far from the noise and bustle of the city that surrounds them. In hushed rooms, a unique drama is played out.

For the past year I have had to spend my life sharing a room with seven men accused of terrorism. I have spent more time with Omar Khyam and his friends in Court Eight of the Old Bailey than with my own family.

Over the past 12 months, I have written down every word they had to say, and at times I wondered if the so-called Operation Crevice trial would ever come to an end.

As months rolled by, holidays were booked and then ruefully cancelled as the trial chewed up more of the lives of lawyers, court staff, police and journalists. Medical treatments were delayed. Time passed.

The accused spent much of their time joking together or with the security staff and seemed to treat the dock as their living room Jeremy Britton Five get life over plot

But the many months I spent with these people - five of whom were jailed for life for a bomb plot which could have killed hundreds in the UK - have been an eye-opener.

Normally there is a strict dividing line between reporters and defendants - and for good reason. Rapists, murderers, psychopaths and terrorists are generally not people you'd want to approach for a chat.

They often remain silent, impassive figures who are just faces in the dock. The Crevice trial, though, was a bit different.

Defence lawyer Baroness Kennedy summed it up neatly. She described them as being like any other British youngsters "who speak estuary English, who wear Nike trainers and sports kit, and who fancy girls, and for the most part like movies and music and McDonald's". Except, of course, most British youngsters don't discuss the virtues of jihad and how the Madrid bombings, which killed 191 people, could have been improved on.

Parallel world

The accused spent much of their time joking together or with the security staff, and seemed to treat the dock as their living room, which I suppose it was for the duration of the trial.

Good luck, from your friendly neighbourhood defendant Nabeel Hussain's message on a leaving card

Several things combined to erode the usual emotional barriers between the defendants and the court.

Any ordinary trial might be over in a matter of days or weeks, but the sheer length of the Crevice trial immersed all the participants in a parallel universe. It was possible to get to know the individual quirks and mannerisms of the accused.

Nabeel Hussain, who was acquitted of all charges, regularly chatted with reporters outside court, passing the boring moments by asking them to explain how shorthand worked or talking about his plans to write a comic book.

When one of my court colleagues announced he was leaving to join a national newspaper, a card was arranged and passed around the court. Mr Hussain wrote in it: "Good luck, from your friendly neighbourhood defendant."

They were certainly characters. Jawad Akbar, who hit the headlines for suggesting blowing up the Ministry of Sound nightclub, had the jury rolling with laughter when a bug in his flat picked him up singing the soul classic Stand by Me.

Of course there were grave and serious moments in the trial. The court went deadly quiet as Omar Khyam - who was convicted - praised the Taleban as "amazing people", and said he was "happy" when he initially heard about 9/11.

Moments like that brought in a cold reality check.

Pictured painted

For two months Khyam and his friends were followed by a team of MI5 officers and police who wrote down their every move.

CREVICE TRIAL Started 21 March 2006 Ended 30 April 2007 Jury out for record 27 days 105 prosecution witnesses Omar Khyam, Jawad Akbar, Salahuddin Amin, Waheed Mahmood and Anthony Garcia jailed for life

This evidence was read out day after day and week after week in court, and audio tapes played of them chatting together. As a result, we became familiar with their daily routines - which chicken and burger restaurants they visited in Slough and Crawley, the names of their friends' pets - and listened in on their marital disputes.

Big Brother was watching them, and as in the TV programme, all their everyday prejudices were on display.

In the same way, the characters of the jurors began to come through. It was possible to see friendships developing.

And keeping the jury happy soon became the judge's main preoccupation as it became obvious that instead of the expected six-month trial, they would have to sit through double that.

When one of the older jurors had problems with his hearing aid, the judge - who also wore one - offered his own consultant to get it fixed.

Another time the jury sat late into lunchtime and arrived in their canteen to find no food available. They refused to return until food was sent out for. The judge sympathised and adjourned court until 3pm. This was a gift for the headline writers: "Twelve hungry men".

Media interest ballooned during the trial. At the beginning there were five journalists - by the end there were up to 100.

Jury watched

The length and cost of the trial were firsts for British justice, and the 27 days of jury deliberations set a record.

The Old Bailey is a world apart

The men and women of the jury had bonded into a team. When the judge asked them after many days of deliberation how they were doing, they simply said they were progressing fine.

But the journalists, and in all probability the lawyers, watched hawk-like for any sign that they might be about to reach a verdict. Body language was scrutinised. What did crossed arms mean? What did glances at defendants mean?

Dress was scrutinised intensely. Did dark clothes mean they were leaning towards guilty verdicts? Did smart clothes mean a verdict would be delivered?

When the end came on Monday, instead of fleeing the court at the first opportunity, the jury chose to stay on and witness the sentencing, the end product of all their months of patient sitting and listening.

If there was a sigh of relief that Crevice was over, it was not audible.

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A selection of your comments appears below.

I couldn't agree more with Hayley, Watford. So often are we tainted by images of what we see day to day in the media, articles like this make it more real for those of us that can only rely on what we read and hear. Great article.
Natasha, London

Impressive article, well written and well thought-out. As a law student I agree that it's refreshing for a trial to come to life like this one does. Commendations are due for the journalist and for the jurors who had to sit through the good, the bad and everything else for this trial.
Mike, Cranleigh

I spent six months on a trial at the Old Bailey in 1985. All I got for my trouble was to be dismissed from my job and not allowed to bring a case before an employment tribunal because the company I worked for employed less then 20 people. Hooray for justice
Robert Carroll, Walton on Thames, Surrey

An extremely interesting article, I can only admire the writer and especially the jury for their stamina and diligence during this trial. I served on a jury some years ago for over 13 weeks and I know what a strain it is, although nothing like those involved in this trial underwent.
Alan Whiskar, Dagenham

Thank you - what a wonderful article. I've never commented on this site before, but as a law student I found it really refreshing for a trial to 'come to life' in the way it has been described above. The descriptions of the defendants in particular make me quite sad though. How can such normal sounding guys be capable of thinking such things - it does really emphasise that the lines between good and evil are far more blurred than is often portrayed, particularly in media reporting of criminal trials.
Hayley, Watford

I was serving as a juror on another case in the summer of 2006. Three weeks commuting to the Old Bailey was difficult enough but imagining doing it for a year would mean a complete shift in life - how will they go back to normal life? However I am sure some of them will remain friends, to go through an intense year like that will be like nothing others can imagine.
Kate, Denham

All I can say is 'Thank you', to all those whose patience, perseverance and self-sacrifice has ensured that justice is served and some dangerous, angry men are prevented from killing and maiming others.
Susan, Cambridge

I am read law at a British university many years ago. I have nothing but sheer admiration for the British justice system compared to the declining standards in the Malaysian courts. Impartiality is becoming fast an alien word in the Malaysian court scene... persons who preside as judges are lacking severely in knowledge.. and just too quick to please the executive in their decisions. Justice is very much alive in Britain... God bless Britain!
Baljeet Singh, Malaysia