Jury: 2 men guilty of UK soldier murder

Staff reports Modified: December 19, 2013 at 12:36 pm •  Published: December 19, 2013

LONDON (AP) — Two British-born, al-Qaida-inspired extremists who considered themselves "soldiers of Allah" were convicted Thursday of murdering an off-duty serviceman who was run down with a car and stabbed to death in a frenzied attack on a London street.


The two men will be sentenced early next year.

Neither defendant reacted as the jury foreman announced the verdicts. Adebolajo, at 29 the elder of the two, smiled and kissed a copy of the Quran as he was led down to the cells.

Members of Rigby's family stood in tears outside London's Central Criminal Court as a police officer read out a statement on their behalf.

"We are satisfied that justice has been done," the statement said. "But unfortunately no amount of justice will bring Lee back."



One witness described the attack, which took place on a busy street near a primary school, as looking "like a butcher attacking a joint of meat."

Adebolajo was filmed by a passer-by moments later, covered in blood and holding a cleaver and a knife, justifying the attack "because Muslims are dying daily by British soldiers."

"An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," he said repeatedly on the video.

Adebolajo later told the police, in an interview played in court, that he and Adebowale had decided to kill a British soldier, and Rigby had been targeted because "he was the soldier that was spotted first."

Adebowale, who has suffered mental health issues since his arrest, chose to present no evidence in his defense during the three-week trial. His lawyer, Abbas Lakha, told the jury that his client agreed with Adebolajo's description of the attack as a "military operation" and the two men as soldiers.


Both men had denied trying to kill a police officer, saying they hoped to provoke police into shooting them. Lakha said Adebowale had brandished a 90-year-old unloaded pistol so he "would achieve martyrdom."

Armed officers shot the two men several times — blowing off Adebowale's thumb as he raised the gun — then gave them first aid.

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