Three Birmingham men, Irfan Naseer, Irfan Khalid and Ashik Ali, have all appeared at Woolwich Crown court today accused of planning a bomb campaign which prosecutors say, may have been bigger than the 7 July London attacks.

Mr Brian Altman QC told the court the police "successfully disrupted a plan to commit an act or acts of terrorism on a scale potentially greater than the London bombings in July 2005", which killed 52 people." He added "The defendants were proposing to detonate up to eight rucksack bombs in a suicide attack and/or to detonate bombs on timers in crowded areas in order to cause mass deaths and casualties."

Mr Naseer, from the Sparkhill area of Birmingham, and Mr Khalid, from the Sparkbrook area, are accused of receiving training in Pakistan on how :to use weapons, make bombs and poisons and they also recorded a suicide video to be played, had their terror plot been completed. They then returned to the UK in 2011 and set up making homemade bombs in a flat in Sparkbrook. It is also alleged other plotters from the Birmingham area helped them raise money by posing as charity workers.

All three men have been described as senior members of a home-grown terror group and are accused of, engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts. A charge, which all three men deny. The case continues.

Written and Presented by Ann Salter