France and Britain row over bomber claims

FRENCH and British ministers were at loggerheads last night after it appeared that France’s Interior Minister claimed the four London bombers had been arrested and deliberately released last year.

Nicolas Sarkozy was reported to have told journalists that this was revealed to him by British Home Secretary Charles Clarke.

But the British authorities, including Mr Clarke, quickly denied the suggestion attributed to Mr Sarkozy during an emergency Justice and Home Affairs Ministers meeting in Brussels yesterday.