London: A British man was on Thursday found guilty of murder and attempted murder after he deliberately drove a van into Muslim worshippers near a mosque in north London.
Darren Osborne, 48, who was heard by witnesses saying he wanted to "kill all the Muslims", was convicted by a jury at the end of a trial at Woolwich Crown Court in London on Thursday.
Osborne old was found guilty of killing Bangladeshi-origin 51-year-old Makram Ali and injuring nine others. The jury concluded that he deliberately drove a van into a crowd of Muslim worshippers near Finsbury Park mosque in the early hours of June 19, 2017.
Osborne will be sentenced at a later date for what the prosecution described as an "act of terrorism".
The prosecution told the trial that Osborne's attack was fuelled by a hatred for Muslims and how he had initially planned to kill "as many people as possible" at an Islamic march in London the day before, June 18.
Osborne, from Cardiff, Wales, admitted to a jury he also hoped to kill Opposition Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who he thought would attend the Al-Quds Day march.
He told the court: "If (London mayor) Sadiq Khan would have been there it would have been even better, like winning the lottery."
Osborne's initial plan was thwarted when he discovered he could not gain access to the march in central London. Instead, he drove for hours in the British capital looking for an alternative target.
The court was shown CCTV footage of Osborne doing laps around the area, with cameras capturing the moment he drove through a crowd of people in Islamic dress.
During the trial, prosecutor Jonathan Rees said: "To seek to kill someone merely because of their religion is a terrible thing.
"And what makes this act particularly horrific is that the group he drove into had gathered in the street in order to help Makram Ali, the deceased, who had collapsed."
The impact of the large van killed Ali and left others with life-changing injuries.
Osbornes attack came after three Islamist terrorist attacks in London and Manchester.
The jury heard that after the attack, Osborne was saved by an imam, who protected him despite his attempt to run down Muslims.
Osborne was seen to smile and say: "I've done my bit." Commander Dean Haydon of Scotland Yards counter-terrorism command said: "He is a devious, vile and hate-filled individual."
Comments
0 comment