London mosque attack: UK man who drove van into Muslim worshippers jailed for life

LONDON: A man who drove a van into a crowd of Muslims near a London mosque last year, killing one man, was on Friday sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 43 years behind bars.

Darren Osborne, 48, was found guilty by a jury on Thursday of murdering Bangladeshi-origin Makram Ali, 51, after deliberately ploughing into a crowd of people in Finsbury Park in June, the BBC reported.

During sentencing at Woolwich Crown Court here, Justice Cheema-Grubb described Darren Osborne as a dangerous man on “a suicide mission” who had been brainwashed by far-right extremist ideology in the lead up to the attack in June, 2017.

“This was a terrorist attack. You intended to kill. Your mindset became one of malevolent hatred. In short, you allowed your mind to be poisoned by those who claimed to be leaders,” the judge said.

She said he was “rapidly radicalised over the Internet by those determined to spread hatred of Muslims”.

Osborne attacked the crowd because they were wearing traditional Muslim dress, the prosecution said.

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. At least nine people were injured in the incident.

Osborne had appeared before the courts on 33 occasions for 102 offences.

The attacker, the trial heard, had became “obsessed” with Muslims in the weeks leading up to the attack, having watched the BBC drama “Three Girls” about the Rochdale grooming scandal.

It is the story of three victims of a child abuse ring. He quickly grew angry at what he deemed as “inaction” over the scandal, the court heard.