By Peter Griffiths

LONDON (Reuters) - Five men found guilty of helping an al-Qaeda-inspired gang after botched suicide bombings on London's transport system were jailed for prison terms ranging from seven to 17 years on Monday.

The men helped the bombers evade capture as police and security services launched a huge manhunt after the failed attacks on July 21, 2005.

Just two weeks earlier, suicide bombers had killed 52 commuters on three trains and a bus in the capital.

Police said the second wave of attacks was intended to cause mass murder and only failed because detonators did not set off the homemade hydrogen-peroxide-based bombs.

A jury at Kingston Crown Court, southwest of London, heard during the four-month trial that the five men provided the gang with safe houses, food and a British passport for one of them to escape to Rome.

Two of those convicted knew there were plans to bomb London but did not alert the police.

The sentences were as following:

* Abdul Sherif, 30. The brother of Hussein Osman, who had tried to detonate a bomb at Shepherds Bush, west London. He gave him a British passport to escape to Rome. Sherif was sentenced to 10 years.

* Wahbi Mohammed, 25, the brother of Ramzi Mohammed, who tried to bomb Oval station in south London. Wahbi Mohammed took his brother food and other items when he was in hiding. He was jailed for 17 years.

* Muhedin Ali, 29, was a friend of Osman and the Mohammed brothers. After the attacks, he offered Osman a safe-house in London. He will serve seven years.

* Ismail Abdurahman, 25, attempted to buy Osman a train ticket on the night before he left for Rome. He also ran errands for him after the failed attacks. He was jailed for 10 years.

* Siraj Ali, 33, was a friend of two of the July 21 bombers. He lived in a flat above Yassin Omar, who conspired to bomb Warren Street station in central London, and Muktah Ibrahim, behind a failed attempt to bomb the No. 26 bus in the capital.

Handwritten notes relating to the construction of the July 21 bombs were found in his flat. He helped Ibrahim clear his flat after the attacks. Ali was sentenced to 12 years.

Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke of the Metropolitan Police said their failure to come forward was "despicable."

"By helping the bombers escape immediate capture they contributed to the public's fear of terrorism at that time," he said in a statement.

The July 21 plotters were jailed for at least 40 years each for conspiracy to murder last year.

(Reporting by Peter Griffiths; editing by Elizabeth Piper)