Inquest justice

It would have been an insult to the families of the 52 people who were killed on that fateful morning in London more than five years ago, and who have been waiting so long for the legal process to run its course. If Hasina Patel, whose husband was plot mastermind Mohammed Sidique Khan, the Edgware Road bomber, had succeeded with her quest, there was every likelihood that there would be just one inquest into the atrocity.

This simply isn't feasible, or in the public interest. It would have been a humiliation for the victims' families who would have found their own proceedings, already much belated, being overshadowed by legal representatives acting on behalf of relatives of the suicide bombers and who would, inevitably, have a totally different agenda.

By denying Mrs Patel her appeal, there is now nothing to stop the

formality of the inquest into the victims taking place before an entirely separate hearing is held into the actions of the four suicide bombers.

Yet, in the meantime, the most pressing priority for the security services is to ascertain the seriousness of the terrorist threat facing the country – and what steps that need to be taken, following 7/7 and those plots that have been foiled in recent times, to prevent a new wave of young Muslims from being radicalised. For, judging by the latest intelligence reports, this task could not be more urgent.