Maniac Darren Osborne has been convicted of murder and attempted murder after driving a van into a group of Muslims near a north London mosque in a terrorist attack.
By Chris Williamson-
The circumstances of his radicalization led one anti-extremism organisation to warn that online hate speech was a growing problem and blame some right-wing media coverage for “propelling anti-Muslim hatred into the mainstream”.
A jury of eight women convicted Darren Osborne, of murder, after concluding that he was brainwashed after feeding on extremist right-wing propaganda online. Osborne was on a mission to kill as many Muslims as possible
Police believe a BBC drama about a Muslim grooming gang was one of the motivating factors to his evil crime. However, his association of terrorism to Islam would have also been a deciding factor. His vicious and senseless attack in June 2017, left 51-year-old Makram Ali, 51, dead with a tyre mark across his chest and 12 others injured after the van Osborne was driving struck people in Finsbury Park.
48-year-old Osborne was convicted after a trial at Woolwich crown court in south-east London. The crown prosecution prosecuted the case as a terrorist offence because Osborne’s actions were taken in order to advance a political purpose
Osborne had ridiculously claimed that “a guy called Dave”, who was not visible on any CCTV footage, had been driving the van while he changed his trousers in the footwell.
The jury was told by the prosecution that the act was terrorism driven by Osborne’s hatred of Muslims, which his partner said had developed rapidly in the weeks before the attack, leaving him “a ticking time bomb”.
What makes the case particularly sad is that two minutes before the attack, Ali had become ill and fallen to the ground 100 yards from his home. It was just after 12.15am and Muslims were thronging the streets after prayers at two nearby mosques to mark the festival of Ramadan.
The attack came after three Islamist terrorist attacks in London and Manchester. A note recovered from the van Osborne had driven down from Wales, where he lived expressed strong hostilities against Muslims, the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, and the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn.
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.”
Opening the case, Rees said Osborne was heard by witnesses to say: “I’ve done my job. You can kill me now.” The prosecutor said a witness claimed the attacker was “constantly smiling”.
Osborne’s partner, Sarah Andrews, told detectives that in the weeks before the attack, his attitude had changed after he watched Three Girls, a BBC TV drama about the Rochdale grooming scandal.
Andrews said in a witness statement that Osborne had become “obsessed” with Muslims. He was an avid follower of social media postings by the former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson, as well as members of the far-right group Britain First.
The jury heard that the pair had watched Three Girls and, in a statement read to the court, Andrews said she believed Osborne had become angry “about seeing young girls exploited” and developed his fixation with Muslims from that point.
She said Osborne “seemed brainwashed” and had been watching content posted online by Robinson, leading him to seek out more extremist material.
Smartphones and computers showed Osborne had viewed material from Britain First, a group that “campaigns primarily against multiculturalism and what it sees as the Islamization of the UK”, Rees told the jury.
Osborne had not worked for a decade and had mental health problems. He tried to kill himself shortly before the attack.
Ali was a father of six children, four daughters and two sons, and had suffered from ill health.
He foolishly told the jury that it was “sod’s law” that CCTV had not picked up the point along the route where his supposed co-conspirator Dave had got into the vehicle, adding that he had no idea where Dave had gone in the aftermath of the attack.
CCTV footage shows he was the only person to leave the van after the attack, and carried out reconnaissance by foot shortly beforehand, again on his own.
He wrote the note setting out his extremist views in a Cardiff pub, where CCTV footage and witnesses confirm he was on his own.
Following Osborne’s conviction Sue Hemming, from the CPS, said: “Darren Osborne planned and carried out this attack because of his hatred of Muslims.
“He later invented an unconvincing story to counter the overwhelming weight of evidence but the jury has convicted him. We have been clear throughout that this was a terrorist attack, and he must now face the consequences of his actions.”
The anti-extremism organisation Hope Not Hate said that the case highlighted the threat of extremist propaganda online but also raised concerns about some coverage in the mainstream.