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17 February 2011
Last updated at 11:00 ET
Lawyers for families of the 7 July attack victims have accused MI5 of trying to "gag" justice by limiting the possible inquest verdicts.
MI5's legal team has asked for "brief, neutral and factual" verdicts on the 52 people who died in the 2005 attacks.
But lawyers for the bereaved said they wanted the coroner, Lady Justice Hallett, to give a narrative verdict.
This should include the question of whether the security services had failed over the London bombings.
The inquests are due to finish next month.
Patrick O'Connor QC, for the families, said: "The public may well be quite astonished if... we were literally kept to the kind of one-, one-and-a-half-, two-sentence verdict in the inquisition that is suggested by some."
He said: "The statue of Justice is very often depicted blindfolded, but never gagged."
Mr O'Connor said Lady Hallett, who is sitting without a jury, should be free to give a long narrative verdict.
Lawyers for the bereaved relatives said in written submissions to the inquest: "The families we represent want a meaningful end result - an explanation about what exactly happened to their loved one; what, if anything, went wrong pre-7/7 and on the day; laying to rest unjustified concerns or suspicions; and for any appropriate recommendations to be made by the coroner to ensure that lessons are learned from their loved ones' deaths.
'Answers wanted' "What they do not want is a sterile, bare conclusion of 'unlawful killing', accompanied by the likely time of death and basic registration details only.
"They want an end result which reflects the evidence over the five months of the hearings, and, to the extent possible, answers their questions about their loved ones' deaths."
Neil Garnham QC, for the Home Secretary and MI5, argued it was "clear" that a narrative verdict was permissible.
"But it would have to be short in the sense that you could not prepare a detailed factual statement, and it would have to be factual and neutral in the sense that it could not include statements of opinion or judgement," he said.
The bombings were carried out by Mohammad Sidique Khan, 30, Shehzad Tanweer, 22, Hasib Hussain, 18, and Jermaine Lindsay, 19, on three Tube trains and a bus.
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MI5's legal team has asked for "brief, neutral and factual" verdicts on the 52 people who died in the 2005 attacks.
But lawyers for the bereaved said they wanted the coroner, Lady Justice Hallett, to give a narrative verdict.
This should include the question of whether the security services had failed over the London bombings.
The inquests are due to finish next month.
Patrick O'Connor QC, for the families, said: "The public may well be quite astonished if... we were literally kept to the kind of one-, one-and-a-half-, two-sentence verdict in the inquisition that is suggested by some."
He said: "The statue of Justice is very often depicted blindfolded, but never gagged."
Mr O'Connor said Lady Hallett, who is sitting without a jury, should be free to give a long narrative verdict.
Lawyers for the bereaved relatives said in written submissions to the inquest: "The families we represent want a meaningful end result - an explanation about what exactly happened to their loved one; what, if anything, went wrong pre-7/7 and on the day; laying to rest unjustified concerns or suspicions; and for any appropriate recommendations to be made by the coroner to ensure that lessons are learned from their loved ones' deaths.
'Answers wanted' "What they do not want is a sterile, bare conclusion of 'unlawful killing', accompanied by the likely time of death and basic registration details only.
"They want an end result which reflects the evidence over the five months of the hearings, and, to the extent possible, answers their questions about their loved ones' deaths."
Neil Garnham QC, for the Home Secretary and MI5, argued it was "clear" that a narrative verdict was permissible.
"But it would have to be short in the sense that you could not prepare a detailed factual statement, and it would have to be factual and neutral in the sense that it could not include statements of opinion or judgement," he said.
The bombings were carried out by Mohammad Sidique Khan, 30, Shehzad Tanweer, 22, Hasib Hussain, 18, and Jermaine Lindsay, 19, on three Tube trains and a bus.
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