Dominic Casciani

Image copyright PA

Four men have been convicted of planning a major terror attack in Birmingham after being caught in an elaborate undercover operation. The trial of Naweed Ali, Khobaib Hussain, Mohibur Rahman and Tahir Aziz at the Old Bailey has been one of the strangest - and most vigorously contested - terrorism cases of the past decade.

Friday 26 August 2016 was supposed to be just another day at the office.

Vincent was the boss of Hero Couriers in Birmingham. The firm delivered delayed luggage. Its website boasted it was "working with" major airlines.

Only it wasn't. The entire firm - everything about it - was fake.

Its manager was really an undercover officer deployed by West Midlands Police's Special Projects Team. Hero Couriers' real business was catching jihadis.

Image copyright Met Police

A 19-year-old man has been jailed for life for planning a bomb attack that may have targeted an Elton John concert or Oxford Street in central London.

Haroon Syed, of west London, admitted preparing acts of terrorism after trying to source weapons including a suicide bomb and machine gun.

The main sex offender treatment programme for England and Wales has been scrapped after a report found it led to more reoffending.

Researchers found prisoners completing the programme were slightly more likely to offend than a control group.

The Crown Prosecution Service's decision that there is sufficient evidence to charge six people over Hillsborough - including a former chief constable - is massive. This has been a complicated process and the charges need some explanation.

The six who the CPS has authorised to be charged are:

What happens next?

Image copyright Getty Images

Recent attacks in London and Manchester have sparked calls for something to be done about the UK's counter-terrorism laws. But what could an incoming government practically achieve by creating new powers to pursue and lock up suspects?

What is Theresa May proposing ?

The PM said she would make it easier to deport foreign terror suspects and "restrict the freedom and movements" of those that present a threat.

Image copyright UNKNOWN

Khuram Butt wore an Arsenal shirt during his murderous assault on other Londoners.

Some of those whom he wanted to kill may too have been wearing the club's colours.

Image copyright Getty Images

The number of police on our streets - armed or not - is now at the heart of an election row between the Conservatives and Labour over how to prevent acts of terrorism.

With three attacks in 75 days, Labour has claimed that police cuts since 2010 have gone "too far" and the public cannot be protected on the cheap.

Image copyright Reuters

Three terror attacks on the UK in 75 days. Thirty-four people dead, many, many more injured. The five attackers all dead too.

By my calculations, this is the most sustained and bloody series of attacks outside of Northern Ireland since the IRA's 1974 winter bombing campaign - although there have been bigger individual attacks, such as the 7/7 London bombings in 2005.

Image copyright AFP

The investigation into Manchester bomber Salman Abedi's connections has already branched out in multiple directions, and the whole nature of tracking people before they commit an act of terror is bewilderingly complex.

It could be over in hours - or it could take weeks.

As each hour passes we learn more about Salman Abedi. What we don't know yet is his exact journey from Manchester-born boy to suicide bomber.

The BBC has been told by a Muslim community worker that members of the public called the police anti-terrorism hotline about Abedi's extreme and violent views several years ago.