By Kylie MacLellan
LONDON (Reuters) - The inquests into the deaths of 56 people who died in the 2005 London bombings should be a public investigation into whether police and security services could have done more to prevent them, a court heard on Monday.
Christopher Coltart, representing seven of the victims' families, told a pre-inquest hearing that the inquests should consider whether the state had breached its obligation under the European Convention of Human Rights to protect its citizens.
The hearing, which is expected to last three days, will determine whether the inquests into the deaths of the 52 victims and 4 bombers during the July 7 attacks on London's transport network should be resumed and what scope they should have.
"In the 15-month period leading up to the bombings, M15 and police were, between them, in possession of a significant amount of information about the bombers," Coltart told the coroner.
"If, we submit on behalf of the bereaved families, ... more had been done it may have been possible that the events of 7 July could have been avoided."
Suicide bombers Mohammad Sidique Khan, 30, Shehzad Tanweer, 22, Hasib Hussain, 18 and Jermaine Lindsay, 19, detonated their bombs on three London Underground trains and a bus in the worst peacetime attack on the capital.
Coltart said the security services were aware of a series of meetings Khan and Tanweer had in 2004 with a terrorist suspect known to be planning to bomb a shopping centre or night club, but chose not to put the pair under surveillance.
He said even if the resources were not available for constant monitoring, putting them under limited surveillance would have led police to a bomb factory, which was discovered at a rented flat in Leeds after the London attacks.
"A cursory look inside that flat would have uncovered precisely what was going on," he added.
The government has refused requests to hold an independent public inquiry into the bombings.
Gareth Patterson, representing four of the victims' families, said the inquests would provide an opportunity to ensure everything possible has been done to improve security procedures, ahead of events such as the London Olympics in 2012.
The coroner, sitting in a packed court at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, will also decide whether inquests into the deaths of the victims will be held alongside those of the four suicide bombers, the prospect of which has prompted concern from some of the bereaved families.
It will also decide whether there should be a jury and who will be entitled to be given "interested persons" status.
Lawyers had made submissions for survivors of the attacks to be designated as interested persons, which would allow them or their representatives to examine witnesses. About 900 people were injured in the bomb blasts.
The inquests were adjourned in 2007 to allow for criminal proceedings which have now been completed. If they go ahead, they are expected to start in October.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw announced last month that legal aid funding would be provided to all families of those who died who requested it, and also funding would be provided for a legal team to represent the survivors.
