The mastermind of a plot to blow up transatlantic flights using liquid bombs has failed in an attempt to use human rights laws to overturn his conviction.

Abdulla Ahmed Ali developed a home-made hydrogen peroxide bomb that could be disguised as a soft drink through airport security and assembled on board.

It was one of the largest terrorist plans ever discovered in Britain and led to restrictions on carrying liquids on flights.

Ali, of Walthamstow, was convicted of conspiracy to murder on an airliner in September 2009 and sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 40 years.

He complained to the European Court of Human Rights that proceedings against him were unfair because of extensive media coverage following a previous trial.

Today the Strasbourg court found that there had been no violation of his right to a fair trial.

Judges concluded that it had not been established that publications were "capable of influencing the jury to the point of prejudicing the outcome of the proceedings and rendering his trial unfair".

Ali recruited friends and associates to act as suicide bombers as part of his plot uncovered in 2006.

The group recorded martyrdom videos at a flat in Walthamstow, east London.

Ali singled out seven flights to San Francisco, Toronto, Montreal, Washington, New York and Chicago that departed within two-and-a-half hours of each other.

If successful, the explosions could have exceeded the carnage of the September 11 attacks, his trial heard.