Lee Rigby murder trial: Police reveal dramatic new images and footage of the moments two suspects are arrested
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The Metropolitan Police has released dramatic new pictures and footage that detail the killing of Fusilier Lee Rigby and the dramatic aftermath involving police.
They were released as a police markswoman told jurors at the Old Bailey that she feared for her life when she was left defenceless as the alleged killer of Fusilier Lee Rigby charged her car waving a machete.
The officer known only a D49 and the driver of a three-strong armed response unit, struggled to pull her gun out of a holster as Michael Adebolajo sprinted towards her car, the court heard.
* Click the image above or HERE to images released by the Metropolitan Police
* Click HERE and HERE to see a letter allegedly handed by one of the defendants to a member of the public (side 1 and 2)
* View the videos below
CCTV footage shown in court showed a machete-wielding man get to within a few feet of D49's car door before he was thrown thrown into the air with the impact of a shot from her colleague sitting in the back seat of the car.
The dramatic incident, caught on two different cameras, showed the other defendant, Michael Adebowale, pointing a gun at the three officers before he was also shot following the daylight killing of the soldier on May 22.
The prosecution claims that Mr Adebolajo, 28, and Mr Adebowale, 22, rammed the soldier in their car and mutilated his body, before waiting for the police to arrive to launch a second murderous assault.
"I saw a flash to my right, when I looked I saw a black male running at me waving both hands up in the air with a chopping motion," said D49 in a statement read to the court. "I instantly thought he is going to kill me. I could not immediately pull out my Glock… I could see the look in the suspect's eyes. They were so wide I could see the whites of them."
The officer in the back of the car, E48, told the court yesterday of his decision to shoot Mr Adebolajo as he charged towards the car. Speaking from behind a screen, he told the court that D49 was "defenceless, she had a pane of glass to protect herself".
"The second he started sprinting at us still in possession of that knife I made the decision to fire and until he fell away from the vehicle I was still in the frame of mind," he said.
The officer did not spot Mr Adebowale, who ran along the pavement close to the wall, until a third colleague, E42, opened fire. Despite being shot in the leg and stomach, Mr Adebowale raised his gun and pointed it towards D49, the court heard.
"It felt like everything went in slow motion," she said in her statement. "I thought 'Oh my God, he is going to shoot me'. I feared for my life."
She ducked as another shot was fired, thinking it was meant for her but it was fired by a colleague and felled Mr Adebowale. The pair were swiftly disarmed and treated for their injuries.
Mr Adebolajo told a paramedic who treated him that he believed in sharia law and "should be allowed to have as many women as he wanted," the court was told yesterday.
He kept repeating that British soldiers were raping and killing women in Afghanistan on his way to hospital, according to a statement by paramedic William Woolston.
Mr Adebolajo and Mr Adebowale both deny killing Mr Rigby close to his barracks in Woolwich, southeast London. They also deny attempting to murder a police officer.
The trial continues.
Video: First video shows the two defendants prior to police arrival. Second video shows the defendants being detained and given First Aid