Accused ‘turned against Muslims’
BRITAIN: The suspect in the Finsbury Park terror attack had expressed increasingly antagonistic views towards Muslims in the weeks since the recent London Bridge atrocity, it has emerged.
Darren Osborne, 47, was arrested on suspicion of driving a van into a crowd of worshippers at the Muslim Welfare House mosque in north London. One man died, while nine others were seriously injured. He is alleged to have shouted ‘‘kill all Muslims’’ and ‘‘this is for London Bridge’’.
Muslim residents on the Cardiff estate where Osborne lived with his partner and four children said he had previously been friendly but his attitude had changed in recent weeks.
Osborne allegedly hurled insults at his Asian neighbour’s 12-year-old son following the Islamist attack in the capital earlier this month.
The night before the Finsbury Park attack, he was allegedly thrown out of a local pub after becoming embroiled in an illtempered row about immigration in which he was ‘‘cursing Muslims’’.
Scotland Yard, which has declared the attack a terrorist incident, is investigating Osborne’s movements and behaviour in recent weeks. Officers said they believed he was acting alone.
His mother, Christine Osborne, 72, described her son as a ‘‘complex’’ man, but maintained that she could not defend him.
‘‘He’s my son and it’s a terrible, terrible shock,’’ she told ITV. ‘‘It’s not just robbing a bank, it’s an atrocity. I can’t cope with it, I can’t.’’
Last night his sister, Nicola Osborne, said her brother had been ‘‘troubled for a long time’’ and ‘‘I am very sorry for what’s happened’’.
Her son, Ellis, 26, said the family was finding it ‘‘really difficult’’, and the ‘‘truth’’ about his uncle’s ‘‘mental health problems’’ would become clear.
‘‘We are massively shocked. It’s unbelievable. It still hasn’t really sunk in. We are devastated for the families, and our hearts go out to the people who have been injured.’’
He said his uncle was ‘‘not a racist’’ and had never expressed any racist views.
Osborne’s neighbour, Khadijah Sherazi, described how she had previously been on good terms with him, but said he had recently become abusive. She said he called her 12-year-old son ‘‘inbred’’ while he was playing on his bike outside their home. Three weeks ago, Osborne’s long-term relationship with Sarah Andrews, 42, appeared to have broken down for good. A source close to the couple said he had moved out and had been living in a tent ever since.
The manager of the nearby Hollybush pub said Osborne had been asked to leave on Saturday night after arguing with a regular customer about immigration. One witness said: ‘‘He was cursing Muslims and saying he would do some damage.’’
It is thought that Osborne, who was serially unemployed between short stints of bar work, hired a van from a Cardiff company before driving for more than four hours to north London, where he carried out the alleged attack.
After being dragged from the van by an angry mob, he was protected by the mosque’s imam, Mohammed Mahmoud, who ordered people not to attack Osborne but to hand him over to the police. Mahmoud has been hailed as a hero by the community for upholding the law.
The attack is the fourth terrorist incident in Britain in recent months.
- Telegraph Group, The Times