Key elements of a major terrorism trial can be held in secret for the first time, the Court of Appeal ruled yesterday.

The case is being brought by the Crown against terror suspects Erol Incedal and Mounir Rarmoul-Bouhadjar, who until now had been identified only as AB and CD.

Media organisations had contested the “unprecedented” decision by Mr Justice Nicol at the Old Bailey last month to accept the government’s application to have the trial heard entirely in secret, with a “permanent prohibition on reporting what takes place during the trial and their identities.”