Finsbury Park terror trial - as it happened: Suspect wanted to kill Jeremy Corbyn at pro-Palestinian march, court hears
Father-of-four, 48, denies charges of murder and attempted murder
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The alleged Finsbury Park attacker has claimed he was not driving the van as it hit Muslim worshippers.
Darren Osborne told Woolwich Crown Court a man called Dave had jumped into the moving vehicle and unexpectedly ploughed it into victims while he was changing his trousers in the footwell.
The defendant claimed he, Dave and another man called Terry Jones, originally planned to attack a Muslim politician in Rochdale, and then a pro-Palestinian march in the hope of killing Jeremy Corbyn and protesters.
Mr Osborne could not explain how Dave disappeared afterwards and was not seen by dozens of witnesses.
He had told counter-terror police he was "flying solo" in interview shortly after attack, the court heard.
The father-of-four denies charges of murder and attempted murder after allegedly ramming a van into Muslim worshippers shortly after midnight on 19 June.
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Police told the jury CCTV shows only Mr Osborne inside the van and body camera footage taken shortly after his arrest shows him telling an officer that he was driving.
In an urgent safety interview conducted later in hospital, he allegedly told a counter-terrorism there was no one else involved, adding: "I'm flying solo, mate."
Prosecutor Jonathan Rees QC yesterday presented CCTV showing the movements of Mr Osborne driving around the area in the minutes before the attack.
Deemed by prosecutors to be an act of terrorism, it killed one man and seriously injured nine others, including a victim who was left trapped under the van.
Mr Rees said the new evidence was “directed at the issue of whether Mr Osborne, the defendant, acted together with other persons, specifically a man called Dave and a man called Terry Jones”.
The jury was played a series of CCTV footage clips showing the van used in the attack driving around Finsbury Park in the 10 minutes before the attack.
At one point it is seen parked while Mr Osborne, 48, buys a drink and returns, and there is a four-second gap in the coverage between cameras shortly afterwards.
Another clip shows the view of the attack from the other side of a fence that formed a dead end.
“One of the issues being considered is how many people got out of the van after the incident occurs,” Mr Rees said.
The van is seen crashing into bollards, with a single figure getting out of the driver’s door, stumbling and running off camera pursued by three people.
DC Hazel Londt, of the Metropolitan Police, told the court she had reviewed footage for eight hours and did not see anyone else inside the van.
Asked whether there was any evidence of anyone apart from Mr Osborne entering or leaving the vehicle, she replied: “No.”
Survivors of the attack previously told the court they saw only one person in the van and apprehended Mr Osborne after he allegedly attempted to flee, pinning him to the ground before police arrived.
“I’ve done my job, you can kill me now,” he allegedly told them, while smiling.
Experts concluded the van had been “intentionally steered” into a group of Muslims who had left Ramadan prayers at two nearby mosques.
They were clustered around 51-year-old Makram Ali, who had collapsed, and were waiting for an ambulance when the van struck.
A pathologist told the jury Mr Ali had not suffered a heart attack and died of “catastrophic” injuries caused by being run over.
The prosecution alleges that Mr Osborne deliberately targeted Muslims after becoming “brainwashed” in the wake of watching a television drama on the Rotherham grooming scandal and reading far-right posts.
The defendant allegedly drove from his home in Cardiff to target a pro-Palestinian march in London on 18 June but found surrounding roads closed by police and started searching for mosques in London.
Bar staff from a pub where Mr Osborne drank on the night before the attack told them he ranted about Muslims, grooming gangs, the Labour party and other topics before being told to leave.
Similar themes were addressed in a handwritten note found inside the van, which also hit out at figures including singer Lily Allen, Jeremy Corbyn and Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London.
The trial continues.
Mr Osborne's defence statement, read by Mr Rees, says that he remained in the van "in support of Dave" and in the knowledge that it would be used to attack Muslims.
Mr Osborne says it is incorrect.
The jury is now being sent out for Mr Osborne to have a break after he claimed he was not listening to Mr Rees' questions, adding: "I was miles away."
We are now back in court and Mr Rees is continuing his cross examination of the defendant.
When asked why he did not serve a defence statement until Friday, Mr Osborne says he has been doing "a lot of soul-searching".
But he has no explanation of several differences between the statement and the account given this afternoon in court. "I have no explanation," he repeats.
The statement claims he was supporting Dave in the attack in Finsbury Park but in the stand he claims he did not know one would take place.
Mr Rees is questioning Mr Osborne on how he met Terry and Dave.
Mr Osborne claims he met them in the Pick and Shovel pub in Treforest, but testimonies previously read to the court by staff described the defendant as a "loner" and staff said they did not see him with other men.
Mr Osborne claims both Terry and Dave lived in Mountain Ash but has "no idea" where.
He will not give their phone numbers, says they have not met his wife.
"Do these men actually exist?" Mr Rees asks.
Mr Osborne silently nods his head.
Mr Osborne claims bar staff at the Pick and Shovel did not see him with Terry and Dave because he mostly met him on busy weekend days when they "were more busy"
Mr Rees asks: "Were you expecting to come back from the [Al-Quds] march alive?"
Mr Osborne: "No."
Mr Osborne: "I perhaps thought I might get shot by police or lynched or something like that...I said to them 'you get a return train ticket, I'll get a single."
Mr Osborne has broken down into laughter in cross examination, claiming it was in response to Mr Rees himself "grinning."
Mr Rees calls his account "absurd", adding: "It's all nonsense."
Mr Osborne is talking about his view of Muslims, claiming: "A lot of people are putting their fingers in their ears...the terror attacks and the raping, it was mostly the raping...that was just going on and people are too scared about it."
Mr Osborne says he doesn't recall telling a soldier in the Hollybush pub that he wanted to kill Muslim but "there's a likelihood I did"
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