STANDING with their heads slightly bowed for an Islamic prayer, these are some of the six alleged July 21 bomb plotters under police surveillance on a camping trip - more than a year before they allegedly attempted to bring death and carnage to the streets of London.

These photographs were taken by Metropolitan Police surveillance officers on May 3, 2004, as the men prepared to leave the campsite on a hillside farm.

The images, which were shown to the jury at the bomb plot trial at Woolwich Crown Court, London, also show the men carrying rucksacks and other camping equipment as they mingle with others on the expedition to Elterwater in the Lake District.

Two police officers, one from Scotland Yard's Specialist Operations division, took a series of photographs to record their activities.

A long telephoto lens was used to take photos from a significant distance.

A third police officer, from Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Command, was later tasked with comparing the pictures to images of the defendants in the wake of events on July 21, 2005.

Muktar Said Ibrahim, 28; Ramzi Mohammed, 25; Yassin Omar, 26; Adel Yahya, 24, all of London, and Hussain Osman, 28, and Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, 33, of no fixed address, all deny conspiracy to murder and causing explosions likely to endanger life.

It is claimed they planned a series of suicide bombings on transport in London.

The trial continues.