Lee Rigby. Photograph courtesy of the Ministry of Defence
Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale have been found guilty of murdering Fusilier Lee Rigby in Woolwich, south-east London in May.
Michael, 29, and Adebowale, 22, struck Rigby with their car, breaking his back, before butchering him with knives in front of shocked members of the public near Woolwich Barracks in May.
Adebolajo had claimed he was a “soldier of Allah” and the killing was an act of war, but Mr Justice Sweeney dismissed these claims and said they were not a legal defence:
“I have ruled that nothing said by the first defendant and… his evidence, in short he was a soldier of Allah and was justified in doing what he did, amounts in law to a defence to this count…Both defence counsel must and will respect that ruling in their speeches.”
The jury of eight woman and four men took just 90 minutes to reach their guilty verdict over Lee Rigby’s murder at the Old Bailey in London.
The pair were found not guilty of attempting to murder a police officer at the scene.
On the guilty verdict, Lee Rigby’s wife Rebecca commented:
“This has been the toughest time of our lives. No one should have to go through what we have been through as a family…I now want to build a future for Jack and make him proud of his dad like we all are.”
