Police had bomber's prints

British police have acknowledged for the first time that they held the fingerprints of one of the Islamist suicide bombers who blew themselves up in attacks on London's transit network in 2005.

Scotland Yard said yesterday it had previously requested fingerprint information on Mohammad Sidique Khan only to be told by local police there were none on file.

When police checked again in preparation for the inquests into the 56 people killed in the attacks they turned up two sets of fingerprints for Khan, one dating to 1986, when he was just 11.

Khan was one of four suicide bombers who attacked three subway trains and a bus on the morning of July 7, 2005.