The Herald has learnt that the prosecutor at the Brisbane bail hearing, Clive Porritt, of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, even gave the court an explanation when defence lawyers asked why Haneef would have provided his SIM card if he knew it was planned to be used for the purposes of terrorism.

Mr Porritt responded that it had been intended the SIM card would be destroyed in the planned explosion when a Jeep Cherokee was rammed into the doors of at Glasgow Airport.

A spokeswoman for the DPP, asked if Mr Porritt had provided wrong information on the SIM card to the bail hearing, responded: “It is not appropriate for us to comment on matters before the court.”

A source close to the British investigation into the attempted bombings said the Australian Federal Police were considered a laughing stock by Britain’s Metropolitan Police, for allowing “such a major cock-up” to happen. “This is very embarrassing for them,” he said.

“Melbourne barrister Peter Faris QC said today the apparent error in the prosecution’s case put before the court had been “a shocking mess-up”.

“You can’t get something that’s so central so wrong,” he told ABC radio.

“I think this is fast approaching the situation where there is not a reasonable prospect of a conviction, unless there’s some other evidence that we don’t know about.

“I just have trouble seeing a jury convict him on this sort of evidence.”

Mr Faris said the case showed the Australian Federal Police (AFP) were “way out of their depth” when it came to handling terrorism cases.

“If I were the attorney-general, I would have the Director of Public Prosecutions and (AFP commissioner) Mick Keelty on the mat this morning demanding that they get this sorted out,” he said.

“I think it’s an absolute disgrace.

“This is a fairly minor case. This fellow obviously wasn’t going to set off bombs in Australia, but it would be a shocking thing if a series of dangerous terrorists were caught here and their case fell over because the prosecuting authorities were incompetent.

“The situation’s got to be reviewed and I think the government’s got to do something about it.”"

Someone should send a roadmap to the DPP and AFP so as to enable them to find their collective arses with both hands.

This doesn’t reflect well on either the government or the spineless (albeit politically strangled) opposition.