A British court has sentenced the man who carried out a deadly vehicle ramming attack near a mosque in London last year to life in prison.

In June, Darren Osborne killed one worshipper and wounded several others in the Finsbury Park area of North London while the area was busy with worshippers leaving late evening prayers during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

On Friday, a judge sentenced Osborne to a minimum 43-year prison term after he was found guilty of murder and attempted murder the previous day.

During the trial, jurors heard how Osborne had intended to attack a march celebrating "Jerusalem Day" earlier on June 18 but was unable to.

The 48-year-old from the Welsh city of Cardiff then drove around the English capital until he settled on the target in Finsbury Park just before midnight.

A group of worshippers had gathered around 51-year-old grandfather Makram Ali, who had collapsed, when Osborne drove his vehicle into the group, killing Ali.

Witnesses told the court that Osborne shouted: "I've done my job," before being caught and restrained by passersby while trying to escape.

In court, he had attempted to defend himself against the charges of murder and attempted murder by claiming that an accomplice named Dave had taken his place in the driver's seat during the attack.

However, he was unable to provide an explanation as to why CCTV footage showed only one person in the car.

Sue Hemming from the British Crown Prosecution Service said Osborne was motivated by his "hatred of Muslims".

"He later invented an unconvincing story to counter the overwhelming weight of evidence, but the jury has convicted him," she said.

"We have been clear throughout that this was a terrorist attack, and he must now face the consequences of his actions."</s>LONDON -- A man who drove into worshippers near a London mosque, killing one man and injuring a dozen others, has been sentenced to at least 43 years in prison.

Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said Darren Osborne's mind had been "poisoned" by far-right ideas.

She sentenced the 48-year-old on Friday to life with no chance of parole for 43 years.

A jury convicted Osborne of murder and attempted murder on Thursday for the June 2017 attack in London's Finsbury Park neighborhood.

A 51-year-old man, Makram Ali, was killed and 12 people were injured when Osborne drove a rented van into people leaving evening prayers during Ramadan.

Prosecutors said Osborne was motivated by a hatred of Muslims and had been radicalized by online far-right and Islamophobic propaganda.</s>Darren Osborne has been found guilty of murder and attempted murder after deliberately ploughing a van into Muslim worshippers in Finsbury Park. Makram Ali, 51, was killed and 12 others were injured after 48-year-old drove into a crowd of people just outside a mosque on the night of June 19 last year. A jury of of eight women and four men took less than an hour to convict the father of four after a trial at Woolwich Crown Court. Osborne nodded his head as the verdict was read out. He will be sentenced at 10.30am tomorrow morning, at a hearing where the judge will be asked to consider whether the attack was an act of terrorism.

Counterterror police described Osborne as a loner who was radicalised into a far-right extremist within weeks, fuelled by hate-filled material online. Muslim groups have said the attack shone a light on disturbing Islamophobia within Britain and warned action must be taken to tackle racism.

A first aider hit in the attack has told ITV News of the moment Darren Osborne drove into him and others in a rented van -then quietly tried to escape in the ensuing melee. Yassin Hersi was hit while helping fellow Muslim Mr Ali, who had fallen over after prayers at the local mosque in north London. Mr Hersi's distressed family soon saw him among the victims on a Snapchat video. And he told ITV News how he didn't tell his loved ones his exact location for fear his hijab-wearing wife and daughters could be targeted.

The trigger, say investigators, was the acclaimed BBC drama ‘Three Girls’, based on the true stories of victims of the Rochdale grooming scandal. The subject matter became his obsession. He turned into a “ticking time bomb” making comments about “all Muslims raping children and being capable of blowing people up”. His former partner said he had become “brainwashed”.

Described as a “a loner” and “a functioning alcoholic”, Osborne decided to take matters into his own hands after being seduced by far-right rhetoric. Within just a month, he fell into extremism and created a plot to use a vehicle with the intention of mowing down Muslims. He rented a three-and-a-half tonne van in Wales before driving to London intending to target a protest march. When that failed, it was purely bad luck that led him to cross paths with a group of Muslims helping an elderly man who had been taken ill.

The imam hailed a hero for his response to van terror attack has told ITV News he acted to prevent a "cowardly reaction" to the "cowardly attack" as he described arriving to the scene of horror. And Mohammed Mahmoud said seven months on Muslim communities justifiably still fear unjust reprisals for the crimes of Islamic extremists. "The first thing I saw was bodies scattered around the place before I even noticed Darren Osborne," Mr Mahmoud said. "He was restrained with his face down to the pavement."

Prosecutors said that Osborne was trying to kill "as many of the group as possible" when he deliberately drove his van into Muslims gathered at the junction of Seven Sisters Road and Whadcoat Street. He was held the the scene by members of the public and then arrested. Police body camera footage captured Osborne claiming that he had lost control of his vehicle. But in a bizarre defence in court, Cardiff resident Osborne admitted he held far-right views and had wanted to kill Jeremy Corbyn, but insisted he had not been the driver during the attack. He claimed that an acquaintance he met in the pub and knew only as "Dave" had been at the wheel, while he hid in the footwell of the van.

A lawyer representing many of the victims said they had suffered a "horrendous" ordeal as a result of having to face Osborne in court to give evidence. Dushal Mehta, a lawyer at Fieldfisher, said they were still trying to secure insurance payouts to help cover their care for serious physical and mental injuries from the attack. "Several of our clients have been left severely physically and mentally injured, affecting their whole lives," he said. "Some have lost their jobs because of those injuries and have been unable to look after their wives and children as they would want."</s>Finsbury Park killer Darren Osborne has been found guilty of ramming his van into a group of Muslim worshippers, with a jury taking less than a hour to reject his claims 'a man called Dave' carried out the terror attack.

The unemployed father-of-four from Cardiff faces a life sentence tomorrow after he was convicted of murder and attempted murder this afternoon.

He was caught on a policeman's body-camera ranting about the twin towers attack and Muslims as he was arrested by police.

Osborne had obsessively scoured the internet looking for far-right material after watching a BBC drama about Asian grooming gangs in Rochdale.

Just a few weeks after consuming anti-Muslim material online, he drove to London intent on killing as many people as possible at the pro-Palestinian Al Quds march on June 18 last year.

But when he could not get his hired box van near the march route, he desperately drove around the capital looking for a mosque or Islamic centre to target.

He spotted a crowd gathered around father-of-six Makram Ali, who had collapsed near Finsbury Park's Muslim Welfare House, and ploughed into them, killing Mr Ali and leaving 12 others with serious injuries.

Witnesses said he shouted 'I want to kill all Muslims' as he jumped out the vehicle, and he blew kisses and taunted victims as he waited in the back of a police van.

The 48-year-old, who hasn't worked for 10 years, was arrested at the scene after a local imam calmed an angry crowd.

Police found a rambling letter Osborne had written in the van in which criticised Jeremy Corbyn, Lily Allen and Sadiq Khan over their responses to Islamist terror attacks and Asian sex gangs.

Osborne had not been on the radar of anti-terror police and officers believe he 'self-radicalised' in less than four weeks after watching BBC drama Three Girls, about Asian grooming gangs in Rochdale.

Months after the attack, and a week into his trial, Osborne suddenly claimed in court that he had planned the attack with two men, 'Terry and Dave', with 'Dave' having been behind the wheel when the attack was carried out.

He claimed 'Dave' was 'like a magician' and disappeared into the night after carrying out the attack.

But CCTV footage showed only Osborne getting out of the van and police found no trace of either of his supposed accomplices and detectives described Osborne as a 'lone attacker'.

Osborne had received messages from former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson and a message on Twitter from Britain First deputy Jayda Fransen.

The content of Fransen's message was not revealed in court and police have refused to say whether Twitter would hand it over to them during the investigation.

The case will add to concerns about the amount of extremist material being shared online and the reluctance of social media giants to tackle it.

The Met's Counter Terrorism Commander Dean Haydon said: 'Internet companies have to respect freedom of speech and as a result do not take some material down and we have to be alive to the fact that people are using this material to self-radicalise and that's what's happened in this case.

'My view is that internet companies could do more towards taking that material down themselves.

'We work closely with them and when we do pinpoint certain material, of a more violent, extremist nature, they do cooperate and take it down.'

The attack could have potentially had a much higher death toll had Osborne hit his original target, the pro-Palestinian Al Quds march which attracted hundreds.

Road closures meant he couldn't get near enough to the march to launch his attack and instead he drove around London looking for another Islamic target.

Osborne claimed in court that he had also hoped to kill Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and London mayor Sadiq Khan.

Police have said there was no serious threat to either man, although both have been kept informed of the investigation and trial.

Commander Haydon said: 'My view of Osborne is that he is a troubled, vile and hate-filled individual and, if you look back over 30 years, he has a history of violence, a history of alcohol abuse, drug abuse and depression.'

Police say far-right extremism is a 'emerging threat', although just 30% of the terrorism they deal with is 'domestic', the category under which they classify such cases.

The CPS said it prosecuted the case as a terrorist offence because Osborne's actions were in order to advance a political purpose.

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.'

How Finsbury Park killer went from jobless drunk living in a tent to fanatical far-Right obsessive in just THREE WEEKS after watching BBC drama on Rochdale abuse

The case of Finsbury Park attacker Darren Osborne has shocked police due to the speed at which he went from being a unemployed painter-decorator with no strong political views to a far-right fanatic plotting to kill as many people as possible.

His extremist views were ignited after he watched a BBC drama about the Rochdale grooming scandal. It was aired at a time when his life was falling apart as he split with his partner and spiralled into heavy drinking and rough sleeping.

Just one month to the day after last of the three-part TV series was broadcast, the 48-year-old was driving around London in a hired box van, looking for a group of Muslims to run over.

The father-of-four was born in Singapore but raised by his parents John and Christine in the seaside town of Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset. He tried to steal from his own grandfather aged 10 and later became known as an unpredictable troublemaker.

Speaking after the attack, his sister Nicola said: 'Weston is a small town. Everyone knows Darren. I've lost jobs, boyfriends after people found out I am Darren Osborne's sister.'

He drank heavily, took drugs and got into fights, previously serving a two year sentence for assault.

A pub barmaid said he once he grabbed her by the throat and pinned her to the wall and locals claimed he once beat up a tourist using a belt buckle.

Locals knew him as 'Mr Moody'. One said he was 'often drunk and cuckoo'.

Another called him 'loud and aggressive', adding: 'He was always shouting the odds if anyone disagrees with him.'

But Osborne was never political until the breakdown of his relationship with pub chef Sarah Andrews in his mid-40s. They had moved to Cardiff several years before.

He began going off the rails at the start of summer last year and is said to have thrown himself into a river in Cardiff in an apparent suicide bid and asked to be sectioned.

His partner didn't want him in the house and he began sleeping in a tent and was seen buying bags laden with alcohol from a local Aldi.

His conversion was so quick that those who had not seen him in the three weeks before his attack couldn't believe his actions.

'He wouldn't even know who the Prime Minister is,' his sister Nicola said soon after the incident. 'I've never heard him say anything about Muslims or anything racist.'

But unbeknown to many who knew him, Osborne had become an internet obsessive, scouring the web for far-Right and anti-Muslim material after watching Three Girls in May last year.

His estranged partner Ms Andrews told police: 'Three to four weeks before the incident we watched a program called Three Girls about young girls being sexually exploited by Muslim men.

'That caused Darren to go onto the internet to research further. We may have watched a couple of those episodes back to back on catch-up.

She said he was soon 'non stop' on the internet, obsessively going over the perverse catalogue of extremist material it had to offer.

Ms Andrews added: 'He started watching Tommy Robinson stuff on the internet. He had been reading Tommy Robinson posts on Twitter.

'I think he was a ticking time bomb. I should have realised what was going on'.

Muslim neighbours also noticed a difference in him.

Whereas he had previously been polite and helped them with DIY, a few days before the attack he called a neighbour's 12-year-old son an 'in-bred'.

Osborne, who police said was far from 'tech savvy' before watching Three Girls, set up a Twitter account and started following Britain First deputy Jayda Fransen, who this year gained notoriety when Donald Trump retweeted her anti-Muslim posts.

But it was the speed at which Osborne went from reading far-right posts to plotting an attack, which surprised detectives at Scotland Yard.

The Met's Counter Terrorism Commander Dean Haydon: 'It is clear that in the space of only a few weeks, Osborne developed a warped and twisted view to such a degree that he was prepared to plan and carry out this attack.'

Survivors suffering severe physical and mental injuries from the terror attack were put through 'horrendous ordeal' of trial

Survivors of the Finsbury Park terror attack continue to fight for compensation after being left 'severely physically and mentally injured' by their ordeal, their lawyer has said.

Dushal Mehta, a lawyer at Fieldfisher, is representing many of them in their ongoing legal claims for compensation as they rebuild their lives.

He issued a statement following the conviction of Darren Osborne for the murder of Makram Ali, 51, and the attempted murder of others.

He said: 'This trial has been a horrendous ordeal for all those affected by the attack last June, particularly those called to give evidence in court, who had to come face to face with Darren Osborne.'

He added: 'Several of our clients have been left severely physically and mentally injured, affecting their whole lives.

'Some have lost their jobs because of those injuries and have been unable to look after their wives and children as they would want.

'This is a proud, committed community who have joined together around the injured to support them in every way possible. They are reluctant to ask for outside help.

'We continue to work with the insurers of the van used as a weapon by Osborne to provide vital medical rehabilitation.

'But the mental scares suffered by the whole community are much more difficult to repair.'

Sharif Xamza was hit from behind on the head by the van as he was kneeling beside Mr Ali, trying to give him first aid.

He said it was 'human' to try to help another human - and then you too become a victim of attack.

He is currently suffering ongoing problems due to the severe brain injury caused by the attack and gets flashbacks and nightmares.

A scrawled letter in a Cardiff pub, then a drive to London to maim and kill: CCTV reveals Osborne's movements in the lead-up to the attack

After forming the idea of attacking a group of Muslims, Darren Osborne moved quickly to put his murderous plan into action.

He hired the Luton van he used in the attack on Saturday, June 17, last year before drinking half a bottle of vodka at his home in Pentwyn, Cardiff.

He then went to a local pub to compose a letter to 'Theresa May and Parliament'.

Asking staff for a pen and paper, he wrote the letter police later found in the van.

He was eventually thrown out of the pub after allegedly saying 'all Muslims are terrorists' and telling a soldier: 'All your family will be Muslims soon.'

When he was challenged, he is said to have replied: 'I'm going to kill all the Muslims. I am going to take it into my own hands.'

The next morning he drove the van to London to target a march organised by the Islamic Human Rights Commission, but was thwarted by road closures.

Instead, he drove around London, stopping in Lewisham to find out if there was mosque there, but moving on after looking at the borough's Islamic Centre.

He arrived at Finsbury Park just before 11.30pm after asking residents for its exact location.

He parked his van and walked around the area in an apparent bid to work out where worshippers were likely to come from and congregate.

He then ran over Makram Ali, 51, who had a heart condition and was already lying on the ground having collapsed just after Ramadan prayers.

Worshippers tending to Mr Ali were also struck after the van allegedly accelerated hard and swung off the road into them before crashing into bollards.

Mr Ali was left with a tyre mark across his chest and died from horrific injuries.

Others who were lucky to survive included Ibrahim Benaouda, 23, whose ribs, spine and pelvis were broken, while worshipper Hamdi Alfaiq, 38, had to be dragged from under the van.

Mohammed Geedi, 28, said he saw and heard the white van speeding up and the noise of gears changing as it turned into Whadcoat Street, while other witnesses reported hearing the engine being revved.

Mr Geedi was hit on the left arm by the heavy Luton box van's wing mirror and knocked backwards into an older woman.

Describing the scene after the impact, Mr Geedi said: 'I looked at a lot of people just splattered all over the place.'

Of the victim, he said: 'He was reciting something and he had a little blood on the top of his head – a tiny bit. I could see the movement from his lips.'

Adnan Mohamud, 28, said Osborne was smiling as he told him: 'I've done my job, you can kill me now.'

Osborne was arrested when onlookers flagged down a police car, and is said to have told officers: 'Our great-great-grandchildren won't stand a chance, someone has to rise up.

'Every Tom, Dick and Harry over here... well, a few off tonight, a few less.'

From Three Girls to Finsbury Park: Timeline of Osborne's rapid 'radicalisation' on the internet May 16, 17, 18 - Three episodes of the BBC drama Three Girls are aired. Osborne's estranged partner tells the court in a statement that he became 'obsessed' with Muslims after watching the programme, which made them both 'angry'. She says it is possible the pair watched the episodes on catch-up at a later date. May 22 - Manchester terror attack. Some 22 people die after Salman Abedi detonates a bomb at the end of an Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena. June 3 - Osborne receives an email from Twitter inviting him to confirm his account. 7.15pm - Britain First deputy leader Jayda Fransen sends a direct message to Osborne on Twitter. The content of this message is not known. Osborne on CCTV at a pub in Cardiff where he wrote his hate-filled letter before the attack Late evening - London Bridge terror attack. Eight people die in the knife and van atrocity. June 4, 12.48am-12.49am - A number of web searches for Jayda Fransen carried out on an iPad. Views a number of tweets from her, including breaking news on London Bridge. 1.11pm-1.24pm - A number of Google searches for Britain First leader Paul Golding carried out on an iPad, followed by further searches for Jayda Fransen and Tommy Robinson, English Defence League founder. Osborne receives an email welcoming him after joining Twitter. 10.36pm-10.38pm - Google searches for 'syria bus bombing', 'manchester bombing', 'lee rigby' and 'westminster bombing' carried out on an iPhone. June 6, 3.09pm-3.22pm - A number of Google searches for a variant of 'muslim celebrating usis in tunnel' carried out on an iPhone. Accesses Infowars article: 'Proof: Muslims celebrated terror attack in London.' 9.09pm - Google search for 'which party want to bring back the death penalty' carried out on an iPhone. June 7, 6.21pm - Google search for 'bad things about labour' carried out on an iPhone. 6.22pm - Google search for 'mayor of rochdale' and 'local MP of Rochdale' carried out on an iPhone. 6.34pm - Google search for 'sadiq khan' carried out on an iPhone. June 9 - Screenshot of an image captured on an iPhone of an email, probably a circular, from 'Tommy Robinson' to 'Darren Osborne', inviting him to a rally in Manchester. It says: 'What Salman Abedi did is not the beginning and it won't be the end. There is a nation within a nation forming just beneath the surface of the UK. It is a nation built on hatred, on violence and on Islam.' The message is signed 'Yours Truly, Tommy Robinson.' June 14, 9.01am-10.23am - A number of Google searches for Tommy Robinson carried out on an iPad. 6.16pm - iPhone screenshot shows a second email from 'Tommy Robinson' to 'Darren Osborne' on seeking justice for Chelsey Wright, of Sunderland. 1.23pm-1.30pm - More Google searches for Tommy Robinson carried out on an iPad. A tweet by Tommy Robinson - 'Anger? When a Muslim bombed our kids we were told not to look back in anger?' - is viewed. 1.35pm - Google search for 'sadiq khan says part and parcel' is carried out on an iPad. 1.37pm - Google search for 'Jeremy Corbyn' is carried out on an iPad. 3.22pm-3.37pm - A number of Google searches for Tommy Robinson carried out on iPad. 3.31pm - A tweet by Tommy Robinson - 'Where was the day of rage after the terrorist attacks. All I saw was lighting candles' - is viewed on an iPad. 3.37pm - Google search for 'sadiq khan carry on as normal' is carried out on iPad. 7.30pm-9.30pm - Osborne goes to the Hollybush pub, where he composes a handwritten letter said to have been found in the van used in the attack and is accused of 'preaching racial hatred' by another customer. June 19 12.15am - Osborne drives van into a group of Muslims tending to a man who has fallen ill.</s>Darren Osborne has been found guilty of murder and attempted murder at Woolwich Crown Court after deliberately ploughing a van into Muslim worshippers in Finsbury Park.

A jury of of eight women and four men took less than an hour to convict the father of four.

ITV News reporter Richard Morgan said that Osborne nodded his head as the verdict was read out.

Makram Ali, 51, was killed and nine others were injured after Osborne, 48, drove into a crowd of people who were helping a man who had become ill just outside a mosque just on the night of June 19 last year.

He is set to be sentenced at 10.30am tomorrow morning.

Prosecutors said that Osborne was trying to kill "as many of the group as possible" when he deliberately drove his van into Muslims gathered at the junction of Seven Sisters Road and Whadcoat Street.

He was held the the scene by members of the public and then arrested.

Police body camera footage captured Osborne claiming that he had lost control of his vehicle.

But in a bizarre defence in court, Cardiff resident Osborne admitted he held far-right views and had wanted to kill Jeremy Corbyn, but insisted he had not been the driver during the attack.

He claimed that an acquaintance he met in the pub and knew only as "Dave" had been at the wheel, while he hid in the footwell of the van.

Scotland Yard's head of counterterrorism said that Osborne was set on a "path of radicalisation" within a matter of weeks before carrying out the attack.

His estranged partner has described how he became "obsessed" with Muslims after watching BBC drama Three Girls, based on the stories of victims of the Rochdale sex abuse scandal, in May last year.

The programme was the "first trigger" for his hatred towards the Muslim community, said Dean Haydon, head of Scotland Yard's counter terrorism command,

Those feelings which were further fuelled as he accessed extreme material online, said Mr Haydon.

Computer and phone data also showed he had made repeated searches for information on far-right groups and anti-Muslim topics, including an article called "Proof: Muslims celebrated terror attack in London."

A lawyer representing many of the victims said they had suffered a "horrendous" ordeal as a result of having to face Osborne in court to give evidence.

Dushal Mehta, a lawyer at Fieldfisher, said they were still trying to secure insurance payouts to help cover their care for serious physical and mental injuries from the attack.

"Several of our clients have been left severely physically and mentally injured, affecting their whole lives," he said.

"Some have lost their jobs because of those injuries and have been unable to look after their wives and children as they would want."

Speaking after the verdict, the CPS said it prosecuted the case as a terrorist offence because Osborne's actions were intended to advance a political purpose.

Sue Hemming, from the CPS said the attack was motivated by "his hatred of Muslims".

"We have been clear throughout that this was a terrorist attack, and he must now face the consequences of his actions," she said.

The prosecution will ask the court to take account of the fact that this was a terrorist act when he is sentenced.

Download: The STV News app is Scotland's favourite and is available for iPhone from the App store and for Android from Google Play. Download it today and continue to enjoy STV News wherever you are.</s>LONDON (AP) — A man who drove into worshippers near a London mosque, killing one man and injuring a dozen others, was sentenced Friday to at least 43 years in prison for what a judge called a crime driven by “malevolent hatred.”

Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said Darren Osborne’s mind had been “poisoned” by far-right ideas, and he had shown no signs of remorse.

“Your mindset became one of malevolent hatred,” the judge told the prisoner in the dock at Woolwich Crown Court. “This was a terrorist attack. You intended to kill.”

She sentenced 48-year-old Osborne on Friday to life with no chance of parole for 43 years.

A jury convicted Osborne on Thursday of murder and attempted murder for the June 2017 attack in London’s Finsbury Park neighborhood.

A 51-year-old man, Makram Ali, was killed and 12 people were injured when Osborne drove a rented van into people leaving evening prayers during Ramadan.

Prosecutors said Osborne was motivated by a hatred of Muslims and had been radicalized by online far-right and Islamophobic propaganda.

Ali’s family watched from the public gallery as sentence was handed down.

The judge said the victim had “lived his life without enemies — until, unknowingly, he met you.”

Ali left a wife and six children. His daughter Ruzina Akhtar said in a statement read in court that “his life was taken in a cruel way by a very narrow-minded, heartless being.”</s>A man who vowed to "kill all the Muslims" has been found guilty of murder and attempted murder after launching a terror attack on Muslims in Finsbury Park last year.

It took the jury at Woolwich Crown Court just 59 minutes to convict Darren Osborne, 48, of killing 51-year-old Makram Ali and injuring nine others.

Osborne only nodded and looked around the court room as the verdicts were read out.

During the trial, the court heard he deliberately drove a van into a crowd of Muslim worshippers in north London in the early hours of 19 June.

The court was told how 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.

Osborne, from Glyn Rhosyn in Cardiff, south Wales, admitted to a jury he also hoped to kill Labour 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 capital - looking for an alternative target.

Osborne asked for directions to the nearest mosque and then travelled to Finsbury Park.

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 as he walked along Seven Sisters Road a couple of minutes before the defendant carried out his attack."

The impact of the large van killed Mr Ali and left others with life-changing injuries.

A 999 call made after Mr Ali's collapse was played in court.

The moment the van hits the crowd could be heard, followed by minutes of chaos, with the caller asking for more ambulances.

The jury, made up of eight women and four men, heard Osborne's motives for the attack were clear from a handwritten note found in the van.

It complained about terrorists on UK streets and the Rotherham child grooming scandal.

The note referred to Muslims as "feral" and described Muslim men as "rapists", declaring they were: "Hunting in packs preying on our children, this will be coming to a town near you soon, it most probably has, get back to the desert, you raping inbred bastards & climb back on ya camels."

Osborne also called Mr Corbyn a "terrorist sympathiser" and lambasted Mr Khan and pop star Lily Allen, the prosecutor told the jury.

Ending the note, Osborne wrote: "Well Folkes gotta go busy day today. Remember peaceful vigils only & please dont look back in anger, God Save the Queen."

It is believed he wrote the letter in a pub the day before he drove to London in a hired van.

CCTV footage of the Holybush pub, near Cardiff, showed Osborne writing a note and drinkers said he was ranting about Muslims before he was asked to leave.

Witnesses told how Osborne declared: "I'm going to kill all the Muslims, Muslims are all terrorists.

"Your families are all going to be Muslim. I'm going to take it into my own hands."

According to Osborne's long-term girlfriend, he developed his Islamophobic views in a relatively short time.

Sarah Andrews said Osborne had become "obsessed" with Muslims in the weeks leading up to his attack, having watched the BBC drama Three Girls about the Rochdale grooming scandal.

The programme aired in May, not long after the Westminster terror attack in March.

As Osborne became more extreme in his views, the UK was struck by two more attacks: Manchester in May, and London Bridge in June.

In her witness statement, Ms Andrews said her boyfriend was a "ticking time bomb", adding: "He seemed brainwashed and totally obsessed."

Mobile phones and tablets seized by police from Osborne's home showed internet searches for far-right groups, including Britain First and the English Defence League (EDL).

In the weeks leading up to the attack, Ms Andrews told police Osborne had been reading posts by former EDL leader Tommy Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, on Twitter.

The court heard Osborne had also received mailing list emails from Mr Robinson and an automated direct message on Twitter from Britain First's deputy leader Jayda Fransen.

Osborne showed no remorse throughout his trial.

As the prosecution case came to a close, Osborne submitted a late defence statement claiming he planned the attack with "a guy called Dave" and another man called "Terry Jones".

Osborne, described as a functioning alcoholic, said he had come up with the plan with "Dave" and "Terry" down their local pub.

Claiming "Dave" was driving the van when it struck the worshippers, Osborne added he was in the footwell of the vehicle and had no idea what was happening.

Asked many times where "Dave" is now and how it was possible for him to flee the scene without any cameras or witnesses seeing him, Osborne told the court: "He's like (the magician) 'Dynamo', an illusion.

"An illusionist. He can make himself vanish perhaps."

This story was branded "absurd" by prosecutors, who told Osborne: “This story is a total fabrication, isn’t it? You invented 'Dave' and 'Terry', didn't you?"

Osborne refused to confirm this and at many points appeared to make jokes in court.

At one stage Osborne claimed he, "Dave" and "Terry" planned to form a Welsh far-right group called "The Taffia".

Multiple witnesses said Osborne was smiling after the attack.

“I've done my job," Osborne said to people as they held him and waited for police.

"You can kill me now,” he was said to have added.

Many of those injured in the attack are still recovering and some have hired a lawyer, Dushal Mehta, to help them with claims for compensation.

After Osborne's conviction, Mr Mehta said the trial had been a "horrendous ordeal" for those affected, adding: "Several of our clients have been left severely physically and mentally injured, affecting their whole lives.

"Some have lost their jobs because of those injuries and have been unable to look after their wives and children as they would want.

"This is a proud, committed community who have joined together around the injured to support them in every way possible.

"They are reluctant to ask for outside help.

"We continue to work with the insurers of the van used as a weapon by Osborne to provide vital medical rehabilitation, but the mental scars suffered by the whole community are much more difficult to repair."

Commander Dean Haydon, head of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, said: "Osborne's evil and cowardly actions meant a family has tragically lost a husband, father and grandfather.

"There were also 12 others, who, having gone to Mr Ali's aid, sustained various injuries from the collision. Some of those injured have still not fully recovered and could suffer from health issues for the rest of their lives.

"I would like to pay tribute to Mr Ali's family and the local community in Finsbury Park, for their tremendous support and understanding with our investigation during what must have been an extremely difficult time for them.

He added: "Only he will know, but if Osborne's aim was to create divisions and hate between communities, then from what I have seen, he has failed in that respect.

"The way that the local community in Finsbury Park - of all faiths and backgrounds - came together was astounding and this reaction was the same across London and the UK.

"I must also praise those who initially detained Osborne immediately after the attack - in particular the local Imam, who ensured that Osborne didn't come to any significant harm whilst waiting for officers to arrive at the scene.

"Again, this response and the overwhelmingly positive reaction my officers and teams have witnessed since, just further highlights how far from reality Osborne's sick and twisted views really are."

Osborne will be sentenced on Friday for what the prosecution described as an "act of terrorism".</s>LONDON (AP) — A man who steeped himself in far-right, anti-Muslim ideas before driving a van into a crowd of worshippers near a north London mosque was convicted Thursday of murder and attempted murder.

A jury at London’s Woolwich Crown Court deliberated for just an hour before finding 48-year-old Darren Osborne guilty of the June 2017 attack in the city’s Finsbury Park neighborhood.

A 51-year-old man, Makram Ali, was killed and 15 people were injured when a rented van plowed into worshippers gathering after evening prayers during Ramadan.

Prosecutors said Osborne was motivated by extreme Islamophobia and saw Muslims as extremists or rapists in pedophile gangs.

Several men who witnessed the attack pinned Osborne to the ground until police arrived. He was heard to say “I want to kill more Muslims,” prosecutor Jonathan Rees told the jury during the 10-day trial.

Another witness reported Osborne saying, “I’ve done my job, you can kill me now.”

Osborne, of Cardiff, Wales, had pleaded not guilty. He claimed a man named Dave was driving the van when it struck the crowd. Prosecutors argued that Dave did not exist, and no witnesses or video evidence were produced to indicate a second person in the van.

Prosecutors said Osborne was radicalized over just a few weeks, in part through online far-right propaganda. Searches for prominent extreme-right figures - including English Defense League founder Tommy Robinson and Britain First leader Paul Golding - were found on his computer.

Osborne’s partner, Sarah Andrews, told prosecutors he had become “brainwashed” and was a “ticking time bomb.”

Prosecutors said they classified the crime as terrorism because Osborne acted to advance a political purpose.

A note found in the van and Osborne’s comments to police mentioned a case in which a group of Muslim men were convicted of sexually exploiting women and girls in England, as well as the deadly Manchester Arena and London Bridge attacks carried out by Islamic radicals just weeks earlier.

Commander Dean Haydon, a senior counterterrorism officer with London’s Metropolitan Police, said the case showed how “individuals can become radicalized really, really quickly” online.

“To be honest, some individuals could look at material today and decide to go and do an attack later on this evening,” Haydon said.

Although he denied the murder charges, Osborne did not hide his aim to kill.

Giving evidence, he said he drove to London hoping to attack a pro-Palestinian march where his intended victims would have included Jeremy Corbyn, the left-wing leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party.

When he could not reach the march because roads were closed, Osborne went looking for a mosque instead.

Sue Hemming, head of counterterrorism at the Crown Prosecution Service, said Osborne “planned and carried out this attack because of his hatred of Muslims.”

“We have been clear throughout that this was a terrorist attack, and he must now face the consequences of his actions,” Hemming said.

Harun Khan, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, welcomed the verdict but said “we cannot be complacent and regard this as a one-off terrorist incident.” He said Islamophobia was “not only prevalent in far-right circles, but also made acceptable in our mainstream.”

Most of the arrests and attacks classified as terrorism in Britain in recent years have been motivated by Islamic extremism, but police say there is a growing threat from the far right. In 2016 Labour lawmaker Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death by an attacker with extreme right-wing views.

“When islamists commit acts of terror we rightly hunt down the hate preachers who inspired them,” he tweeted. “We should do the same for the far right.”

Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said she would sentence Osborne on Friday.</s>A man who developed a hatred of Muslims after watching a TV drama about child sex abuse involving British Pakistani men is found guilty of ploughing a van into worshippers outside a north London mosque weeks later, killing one.

British media have identified the Finsbury Park Mosque attacker as Darren Osborne, 47, of Cardiff. (Credit: ABC licensed)

A man who developed a hatred of Muslims after watching a TV drama about child sex abuse involving British Pakistani men has been found guilty of ploughing a van into worshippers outside a north London mosque weeks later, killing one.

Darren Osborne, 48, who had not previously expressed far-right views, became obsessed with Muslims after viewing the BBC's Three Girls, about events in Rochdale, northern England, where white girls were abused by paedophile gangs.

He then researched extreme right-wing figures and groups, which sent him into a spiral of wanting to carry out an attack, police said.

"What this case demonstrates is that individuals can be become radicalised really, really quickly," said Commander Dean Haydon, the head of London's Counter Terrorism Command.

In a garbled handwritten note left in the van, Osborne described Muslim men as rapists, "feral" and "in-bred" and expressed his contempt for Muslim London mayor Sadiq Khan and socialist opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, whom he later told jurors he had wanted to kill on the day of his attack.

He was also angered by three recent deadly Islamist incidents in Britain, and his attack occurred just weeks after three men drove a van into pedestrians on London Bridge before stabbing people in nearby bars and restaurants, killing eight.

That rampage came the month after a suicide bombing at a pop concert in Manchester killed 22 people.

Early on June 18, Osborne left his home in Cardiff, Wales, in a heavy van he had rented the day before, and drove to central London.

His original plan was to attack a pro-Palestinian march and he told the court his intent was to target Mr Corbyn, although Commander Haydon said there was no evidence of any direct threat.

Thwarted by road closures, Osborne headed south where he unsuccessfully looked for a mosque before going to north London and the Finsbury Park area.

Shortly after midnight, he came across a group of Muslims gathered around Makram Ali, 51, a father-of-six originally from Bangladesh, who had collapsed after leaving late-night Ramadan prayers.

He drove into the group, killing Ali, who died less than 90 metres from his front door, and injuring 12 others, two seriously.

Those at the scene apprehended him, with local imam Mohammed Mahmoud intervening to ensure he was unharmed.

In his defence, Osborne claimed he had planned the attack with two others, someone called Dave and a man called Terry Jones. He said Dave had been driving the van.

"We are satisfied [they] do not exist," Commander Haydon said, pointing to confessions from Osborne at the scene and a swathe of CCTV evidence.

At Woolwich Crown Court on Thursday (local time), Osborne was found guilty of murder and attempted murder, with police and prosecutors saying it was an act of terrorism.

Commander Haydon described him as "a devious, vile and hate-filled individual".

He will be sentenced at the court on Friday.

Osborne, an unemployed father-of-four, had a history of violence, depression, drug and alcohol abuse and had served a two-year prison sentence for assault.

He had no fixed home, and had separated from his partner, spending the night before the attack in a tent in her back garden. She described him as a ticking time-bomb.

Britain has been a target for foreign and homegrown Islamists since the September 11, 2001 US attacks, but Commander Haydon said right-wing groups were an emerging threat.

Arrests for far-right extremism were rising, he said, and Britain recently banned three groups for the first time since the 1940s.

Last year, a Nazi-obsessed loner was jailed for life for murdering politician Jo Cox just a week before the European Union referendum in 2016.</s>The Finsbury Park terrorist, Darren Osborne will spend at least 43 years behind bars after being jailed for life for his murderous attack on Muslims in London last June.

Osborne was sentenced on Friday to concurrent whole life terms for murder and attempted murder, with the minimum term of more than four decades to be served, having being found guilty at Woolwich crown court the day before. 



The van attack on a crowd in Finsbury Park, north London, killed 51-year-old Makram Ali and left 12 other people injured.



During the sentencing hearing, Ali’s daughter, Rosina Akhtar, said she could not describe the pain she and her relatives had suffered. Her father was taken from them “in a cruel way by a very narrow-minded, heartless being”, she said in a statement read to the court by the prosecutor, Jonathan Rees QC.

She and her family had struggled to sleep since the attack – the scene of which she still has to pass most days on her way to work – and had suffered nightmares, Akhtar said.

She described the anguish at having to wait 48 hours to identify her father’s body. “My heart was shattered when I saw my father lying in the morgue. I couldn’t see his smile.” The family’s grieving could not begin properly until the trial was concluded, she said.

Osborne attacked the crowd because they were wearing traditional Muslim dress, the prosecution had said during his trial. Akhtar said her mother now felt scared to go out in public because she wears such garments.

“My mother now feels scared to sleep on her own. She sleeps with her children,” she said. “She still sees my father around the house all the time. He was very much a family man ... this is how he will be remembered.”

Akhtar said Ali’s children and grandchildren, who loved to spend time with him, would now grow up without a father or grandfather. “My father will never be forgotten. He will always stay in our hearts. His laughter will echo the walls of our home and his smile will be reflected in our eyes.”

Speaking from the dock after the sentences were passed, Osborne, told the judge: “God bless you, thank you.”

The jury took about an hour to unanimously convict Osborne over the premeditated attack in June 2017. He used a rented van to target Muslims as they returned from prayers during the holy month of Ramadan, and the court heard he had wanted to kill as many as possible.



His trial heard that he had become radicalised after watching the BBC docudrama Three Girls about the Rochdale grooming scandal, and reading online content from far-right figures such as the former EDL leader Tommy Robinson, and organisations such as Britain First.

Osborne had appeared before the courts on 33 previous occasions in relation to 102 offences, including assaults and burglaries, Rees told the court.
As the sole perpetrator of the 19 June 2017 attack on Muslims in London, Darren Osborne is sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of murder.