Five sentenced for helping failed London bombers

By Peter Griffiths

LONDON (Reuters) - Five men found guilty of helping an al-Qaeda-inspired gang after botched suicide bombings on London's transport system were jailed for prison terms ranging from seven to 17 years on Monday.

The men helped the bombers evade capture as police and security services launched a huge manhunt after the failed attacks on July 21, 2005.

Just two weeks earlier, suicide bombers had killed 52 commuters on three trains and a bus in the capital.

Police said the second wave of attacks was intended to cause mass murder and only failed because detonators did not set off the homemade hydrogen-peroxide-based bombs.

A jury at Kingston Crown Court, southwest of London, heard during the four-month trial that the five men provided the gang with safe houses, food and a British passport for one of them to escape to Rome.

Two of those convicted knew there were plans to bomb London but did not alert the police.

The sentences were as following:

* Abdul Sherif, 30. The brother of Hussein Osman, who had tried to detonate a bomb at Shepherds Bush, west London. He gave him a British passport to escape to Rome. Sherif was sentenced to 10 years.