A British Muslim man convicted of the murder of soldier Lee Rigby on the streets of London last year was on Wednesday sentenced to life in prison while his accomplice was jailed for 45 years.
While Michael Adebolajo has been ordered to spend the rest of his life in prison, Michael Adebowale will serve at least 45 years. The pair were absent during sentencing after a scuffle in the dock, which also delayed proceedings at the Old Bailey Court here today.
Sentencing the killers in their absence, the judge said they had been convicted on “overwhelming” evidence of the “barbaric” murder of Fusilier Rigby.
“He had done absolutely nothing to deserve what you did to him. You both gloried in what you had done. Your sickening and pitiful conduct was in stark contrast to the women at the scene who tended to Lee Rigby’s body and challenged what you had done,” Justice Sweeney said, describing the act as a “murder with a terrorist connection”.
Adebolajo and Adebowale ran over Fusilier Rigby with a car before hacking him to death near his Army barracks in Woolwich in south-east London in May last year.
The two men, of Nigerian origin, had been convicted of the murder in December but the judge had delayed sentencing until after a key appeal court ruling last month on whether whole-life terms can be used by judges in the UK.
As sentencing began, Adebolajo refused to stand as his name was read out and?Adebowale remained seated to confirm name.
Earlier, Justice Sweeney heard victim impact statements before passing the sentence. A statement from Rigby’s widow Rebecca was read out as part of the proceedings.
“We live in the Army and have seen death. You do not expect to see this on the streets of the United Kingdom. My son will grow up and see images of his dad that no son should have to endure,” it said.
The soldier, from Middleton, Greater Manchester, died of multiple cut and stab wounds after the attack on May 22, 2013.
Adebolajo, 29, and Adebowale, 22, drove a car into Rigby at 60 kph, before dragging him onto the road and attacking him with knives and attempting to decapitate him with a meat cleaver.
Images of the pair with bloodied hands were caught on smartphones by passers-by and flashed around the world.
During the murder trial, Adebolajo had claimed the pair were “soldiers of Allah” and the killing was an act of war.
—-PTI