Passenger in aircraft terror alert is freed

A passenger who sparked a terror alert on a British Airways flight half way across the Atlantic has been released by police.

The plane was three hours into its flight to New York when US authorities claimed he was on a terrorist list.

American officials refused to let the plane land at John F Kennedy Airport and the aircraft returned to Heathrow.

He was detained by Scotland Yard but was released without charge after two hours.

The name of the man, a Moroccan with a French passport, matches a terrorist suspect with links to a group involved in the Madrid train bombings, it is understood.

US authorities said their "do not fly" list was updated last month and admitted that BA may not have been given the latest copy.

The plane, with 239 passengers and a change of crew, finally arrived in New York 18 hours after it first took off.