‘Heartless’ mosque killer is jailed for a minimum 43 years
THE daughter of a man mowed down by mosque murderer Darren Osborne told yesterday how her heart was “shattered” by the senseless killing.
Ruzina Akhtar described the far-Right extremist as a “narrowminded, heartless being” after a judge condemned him to die behind bars.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb jailed the 48-year-old lone wolf killer for life for murdering devoted father and grandfather Makram Ali outside the Finsbury Park Mosque in north London in June.
She ordered him to remain in prison for at least 43 years before he can be considered for parole.
The minimum term is one of the longest imposed by a British judge and effectively means Osborne will never be free.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb told him: “This was a terrorist attack. You intended to kill.”
The heavy-drinking cannabis smoker killed father-of-six Mr Ali, 51, when he drove a hired van into a crowd of worshippers.
Another 12 men and women were injured, two of them seriously. Mr Ali was only 100 yards from his home. Captured at the scene, Osborne blew a kiss at stunned bystanders and later blamed two mystery men for his appalling crimes.
But jurors at London’s Woolwich Crown Court took less than an hour on Thursday to find him guilty of murder and attempted murder.
The judge said: “You attempted to kill at least a dozen people and succeeded in taking the life of a peaceful man you knew nothing about and had never met.”
Shattered
In a statement read to the court, Ms Akhtar told how her father’s random killing has devastated his family, particularly his widow.
She said: “My heart was shattered when I saw my father lying in the morgue.”
Her mother now fears being targeted again because of her religion, the court heard.
She said: “My mum is scared to go out by herself in case she is attacked because she is visibly a Muslim who wears a headscarf.” Mr Ali’s two sons are 13 and 14 years old.
Ms Akhtar added: “They will now grow up without the help and support of their father...without his guidance and assistance in life. My son is always asking where his grandad is and why he cannot go to the park every day to play with him any more. “This is heartbreaking.” Ms Akhtar said her father, who had two grandchildren, “lived without any enemies” and never hurt or upset anyone. She added: “His life was taken in a cruel way.”
Outside court, she said: “Our father, like the victims of most terrorism, was entirely innocent which makes his death in this violent way all the more hurtful. We cannot imagine the trauma he felt in his last few minutes.”
Homeless, jobless drifter and father-of-four Osborne first appeared in court aged 15 and has 102 previous convictions spanning 1984 to 2014.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said he had been “rapidly radicalised”. She added: “Your mindset became one of malevolent hatred.”