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Darren Osborne appears in court over Finsbury Park attack Finsbury Park attack: man aimed to kill Muslims, court hears
(35 minutes later)
Osborne denies murder after a van was driven into worshippers near north London mosque Darren Osborne denies murder after a van was driven into crowd near north London mosque
Vikram Dodd and Vikram Dodd and
Kevin RawlinsonKevin Rawlinson
Mon 22 Jan 2018 12.23 GMT Mon 22 Jan 2018 12.49 GMT
Last modified on Mon 22 Jan 2018 12.35 GMT First published on Mon 22 Jan 2018 12.23 GMT
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A man has appeared in court charged in connection with an incident in Finsbury Park last summer that left one man dead and several injured. A man drove a van into a crowd near a mosque in a terrorist act intended to kill as many Muslims as possible, a jury has heard.
Darren Osborne, 48, is charged with murder and attempted murder after a van was driven into worshippers near a mosque in north London in June last year. He has pleaded not guilty. Darren Osborne, 48, denies murdering one man, Makram Ali, and injuring others in Finsbury Park, north London, on 19 June.
He appeared in the dock at Woolwich crown court, south-east London, on Monday wearing a dark blue shirt and grey trousers and confirmed his identity. Jonathan Rees QC, for the prosecution, told the jury at Woolwich crown court on Monday: “On 19 June 2017, at just after a quarter past midnight, the defendant, Mr Osborne, deliberately drove a heavy Luton box van into a group of Muslims who had gathered in the junction of Seven Sisters Road and Whadcoat Street, in the Finsbury Park area of London.
The attack happened just after midnight on 19 June, when a rented van was driven into worshippers leaving Muslim Welfare House after prayers for Ramadan. “The evidence establishes that the defendant was trying to kill as many of the group as possible. In the event, he killed one person, a 51-year-old man called Makram Ali, and in addition injured many others, some of them seriously.”
Makram Ali, 51, died from his injuries and others were wounded. Rees said the hatred and extremism shown in the note Osborne wrote, which was recovered from the van he used to stage the attack, showed Ali’s death and the injuries to others near the mosque was a terrorist act.
Rees told the jury: “Although there is no terrorist offence for you to consider in this case, the prosecution say that the note and the comments he made after his detention establish that this act of extreme violence was, indeed, an act of terrorism, designed to influence government and intimidate the Muslim community, and done for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, ideological or racial cause.”
Rees added: “The evidence shows that, although unwell, Mr Ali was alive just before the incident and his death resulted from the defendant driving the heavy van over him as he lay on the roadway.”
The jury heard Osborne had hired the van in Wales and driven from Cardiff to London the previous day “looking for a target”. He had intended to attack the al-Quds march but had then decided to attack a mosque in Finsbury Park.
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 as he walked along Seven Sisters Road a couple of minutes before the defendant carried out his attack.”
The jury heard that Osborne had written a note about his motivation for the attack. It had been found in the van and bore his fingerprints. It railed against the terrorist attacks in London and Manchester in the preceding months, and the Rotherham child abuse scandal.
It also said “Islam’s ideology does not belong here”, and taunted the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, and the singer Lily Allen, jurors heard.
The trial began on Monday at Woolwich crown court in south-east London. Osborne appeared in the dock on Monday wearing a dark blue shirt and grey trousers and confirmed his identity.
The attack happened just after midnight on 19 June, when a rented van was driven into worshippers leaving Muslim Welfare House after prayers for Ramadan. Ali died from his injuries and others were wounded.
Osborne denies the murder of Ali and the attempted murder of people at the junction of Seven Sisters Road and Whadcoat Street, which is close to the mosque.Osborne denies the murder of Ali and the attempted murder of people at the junction of Seven Sisters Road and Whadcoat Street, which is close to the mosque.
The trial continues.
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