Lee Rigby murder: Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale found guilty

Old Bailey jury finds pair guilty of fatally attacking soldier in street near Woolwich barracks in south London

Two men have been convicted of murdering a soldier in broad daylight near a military barracks in London, in the first al-Qaida-inspired attack to claim a life on British soil since 7 July 2005.

Michael Adebolajo, 29, and Michael Adebowale, 22, murdered Lee Rigby, 25, as he returned to the Woolwich barracks in south London, in May.

They were convicted after a trial at the Old Bailey in central London, which heard that the soldier was almost beheaded in the attack.

Adebolajo, from Romford, Essex, and Adebowale, from Greenwich, south London, claimed they were soldiers of Allah and their violence was a reprisal against western foreign policy, which had led to the deaths of Muslims.

At the time of the attack, Rigby was attached to the regimental recruiting team and was on his way back to barracks in Woolwich from a shift working at the Tower of London. Previously he had served a tour of duty in Helmand, Afghanistan, fighting Islamist militants.

After Rigby was attacked in the street, Adebolajo was filmed on the mobile phones of passersby, justifying the murder as a strike against the west, in language echoing the propaganda of violent jihad.

In the footage, Adebolajo said: “You people will never be safe.”

Brandishing a cleaver and a knife in his bloodied hands, and with the body of Rigby lying metres away, Adebolajo said: “We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you. The only reason we have done this is because Muslims are dying every day. This British soldier is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

“We must fight them. I apologise that women had to witness this today. But in our land our women have to see the same. You people will never be safe. Remove your government, they don’t care about you.

“You think David Cameron is going to get caught in the street when we start bussin’ our guns? You think politicians are going to die? No it’s going to be the average guy, like you, and your children. So get rid of them. Tell them to bring our troops back so you can all live in peace.”

The pair hung around for several minutes before armed police arrived at the scene. The two men then rushed the officers, who shot the pair. They claimed they wanted to be shot dead so they would be martyrs.

Adebolajo decided before one court hearing that he wished to be called after one of the most notorious Islamist extremists in British history. He asked to be addressed as Mujaahid Abu Hamza. His co-accused asked to be addressed as Ismail Ibn Abdullah during proceedings.

The murder raised questions for the security services, who had had both men on their radar.

They had been known to MI5 and the police for eight years but had been assessed as peripheral figures and thus not subjected to a full-scale investigation.

Adebolajo, who was born into a church-going Nigerian family but converted …read more