I’D DO IT AGAIN
Consumed with hate, face of father of four suspected of driving across country to mow down worshippers outside mosque – before blowing a kiss from police van and shouting . . . THe suspect in the Finsbury Park terror attack was turfed out of a pub for abu
Neighbours said Darren Osborne, 47, was a psychopath who had racially abused a 12year-old Muslim boy next door.
They said the jobless mechanic’s life was spiralling out of control. He drank heavily and fought with the mother of his four children. His elderly mother yesterday insisted he was not a terrorist and instead had long-term mental health issues.
Last night Osborne was being questioned on suspicion of attempted murder and terrorist offences.
Officers want to know why he drove across the country in an £80-a-day rented van to mow down worshippers outside a north London mosque.
As political leaders called for calm in the wake of a fourth terrorist attack in three months: Witnesses said that Osborne shouted ‘I’m going to kill all Muslims’, said ‘I’d do it again’ and blew kisses from a police van; Police were apparently warned he was acting suspiciously with the van; Nine victims went to hospital; Most were helping a 51-year- old man, Makram Ali, who had collapsed minutes before the attack; An imam stepped in to protect Osborne from an angry crowd. The fatal attack – outside the Mus- lim Welfare House, yards from Finsbury Park mosque – brought mayhem back to the capital yesterday.
Shortly before 12.20am, a white van ploughed into worshippers helping Mr Ali in a street packed with the faithful.
After jumping from the van’s cab, throwing punches and spitting and biting, the attacker allegedly yelled he wanted to ‘kill more Muslims’.
Osborne is said to have begged for death as a mob began assaulting him.
But his life was saved by the imam – Mohammed Mahmoud – who ordered
restraint. Osborne was handed to police, and blew kisses from their van.
Mr Ali died in the street and a postmortem examination will determine whether this was from being hit by the van or from his earlier collapse.
Detectives are now working to unravel the suspect’s background. His mother Christine Osborne, 72, from Weston-superMare in Somerset, said: ‘It is him, he did it – but there are mental health issues.’
In a statement on behalf of the family last night, Osborne’s nephew Ellis Osborne, 26, said: ‘ We are massively shocked; it’s unbelievable, it still hasn’t really sunk in. We are devastated for the families, our hearts go out to the people who have been injured.’
Mr Osborne said his uncle had never expressed racist views. He added: ‘It’s madness. It is obviously sheer madness.’
Neighbours said Osborne split from his partner six months ago and the pair often rowed late into the night. He would however do the school run.
Former friends said the odd job man was famous for his temper and got into fights with those who disagreed with him.
On Saturday night, he was thrown out of the Hollybush pub in Pentwyn, Cardiff, less than a mile from his home.
He had drunk too much and was ranting about Muslims and Islam and threatening to ‘do some damage’. One woman branded Osborne ‘unhinged’ and said he once grabbed her by the throat and pinned her against a wall while working in a pub. She added: ‘He was like that all the time, causing fights about anything. He was just off his head. He was a big drinker. He would be troublesome and provocative, he would goad people into wanting to fight and stuff like that. He was chaotic.’
Theresa May declared the incident ‘every bit as sickening’ as the atrocities in London and Manchester. She vowed extremism has no place in Britain, pledging: ‘We will stop at nothing to defeat it.’
The Prime Minister added: ‘The terrible terrorist attack which took place last night was an evil borne out of hatred and it has devastated a community.
‘We need to work together as one society, one community, to drive it out, this evil which is affecting so many families.’
Speaking after she chaired an emergency Cobra meeting in Downing Street, Mrs May praised the bravery of those who detained the driver.
She said it was a lone wolf attack but police would continue to assess security needs at mosques and provide additional resources if needed.
She later met Imam Mahmoud and other community leaders during a swiftlyarranged visit. She had been criticised for her leaden response to the Grenfell Tower disaster.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn appeared to fight back tears as he visited the site in his North London constituency, and described it as ‘an attack on all of us’.
Sadiq Khan also urged people to remain calm and vigilant. The London mayor added: ‘Like the terrible attacks in Manchester, Westminster and London Bridge it is an assault on all our shared values of tolerance, freedom and respect.’
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said the incident was ‘quite clearly an attack on Muslims’.
Islamic State supporters used the outrage to call for further atrocities against the West. A ream of messages online questioned why the suspect had been not shot by police. Vile videos of white supremacists celebrating the Finsbury Park attack were circulating on social media.
TO his neighbours, Darren Osborne appeared a ‘normal bloke’ who could be a loudmouth but would also help them out with little household jobs.
He used to host raucous parties with his large family in his back garden, at which he would often burst into song.
The practically-minded odd-job man was always tinkering with a car in the road outside his home in a quiet cul-de-sac on the outskirts of Cardiff.
On Sunday morning he displayed community spirit by changing a tap in a neighbour’s house – but hours later the father of four allegedly drove a rented van into worshippers 160 miles away near Finsbury Park mosque in North London.
His shocked Muslim neighbour Saleem Naema, 50, a taxi driver, said yesterday: ‘If I ever needed anything he would come. I just can’t believe that he did that.’
In the months before the alleged terrorist attack, Osborne, 47, was on a downward spiral and his relationship with the mother of his children was on the rocks, locals said. He also allegedly insulted the 12-year-old son of his Muslim neighbours, calling him an ‘in-bred’ as he played on his bicycle.
Last night, his mother Christine Osborne, 72, insisted her son was not a terrorist, adding: ‘It is him, he did it – but there are mental health issues.’
Former friends branded Osborne a ‘bloody psycho’ who had been famous for his temper and would get into fights.
And it was claimed that the heavy drinker once beat someone up using a belt buckle.
On Saturday night, Osborne was thrown out of the Hollybush pub in Pentwyn, less than a mile from his home, after ranting about Islam. One drinker said: ‘He got chucked out as he was so drunk. He was cursing Muslims and saying he would do some damage.’
Another added: ‘He’s a loud and aggres- sive person. He’s always shouting the odds if anyone disagrees with him.’
His neighbour Khadijh Sherazi said Osborne had previously abused her son Nadeem, 12, something overheard by her daughter Nadia, ten.
Nadeem said: ‘I was on my bike and he just came up to me and said “in-bred”. It was just a normal voice. He just said it.’
Nadia added: ‘I said to my nan: “Did you hear that?”’ Mrs Sherazi said: ‘ We didn’t think nothing of it. He seemed a normal bloke, a normal family, normal kids, happy go lucky. I would see him out walking with his two spaniels. He would also shout quite a lot but the kids seemed happy.’
Asked about the Finsbury Park incident, she told The Guardian: ‘It’s shocking... this guy didn’t show any signs of being racist.’
Osborne lived in a four-bedroom house in Cardiff – which has one of Britain’s longestestablished Muslim communities – with his long-term partner Sarah Andrews, 42, a chef at the Black Griffin pub in nearby Lisvane.
Friends said their relationship was struggling, punctuated by fierce rows in the street. He shouted at his children.
Osborne’s arrest also sent shockwaves through his home town of Weston- super-Mare, Somerset. Police were seen yesterday at his mother’s home, a small £150,000 terraced house.
Mrs Osborne said of her son: ‘He is disturbed, and has been on medication. He’s unemployed at the moment. He’s got problems, but he’s also got a wife and four kids, and we can’t talk to his partner Sarah, she’s somewhere safe.’
She insisted he had no problems with Muslims and said he had no links with far-Right groups, adding that he was not a racist.
‘I’m not going to defend him but it’s my son and it’s a terrible, terrible shock,’ she added. ‘At this moment in time I can’t cope with it, I can’t.’
With her grandson Ellis, 26, who is mixed-race, next to her, she added: ‘Darren would stand up and die for Ellis.’ Osborne’s sister Nicola, 50, said: ‘He’s not interested in terrorism. I am very sorry for what’s happened.’
Neighbours described Mrs Osborne as ‘ long- suffering’, with one adding: ‘ Darren’s not had a bad life. He’s had quite a privileged life. He’s had more options than a lot of people.’
A former barmaid at Westonsuper-Mare’s Market House pub said Osborne was a well-known heavy drinker and troublemaker.
The woman, 40, who did not want to be named, said in the 1990s when she was 18, he grabbed her by the throat and pinned her to the wall as she worked.
‘As soon as we saw the pictures today we all recognised Darren – everyone knew him years ago because he was so unhinged,’ she said.
‘Obviously it’s shocking what he’s done – but then again it’s not surprising he’s done something like this because he was always violent and causing trouble.
‘He would be troublesome and provocative, he would goad people into wanting to fight and stuff like that. He was chaotic. Sometimes he would come in the pub and sit down and have a drink and be fine, amenable. The next minute he’d be starting a fight.’
Old school friends went online to describe how they recognised him ‘instantly’ from blurry footage of his arrest. They said he was ‘forced to leave the area’ around a decade ago after one run-in too many and moved to Wales.
One woman in Weston- superMare said: ‘The words I would use to describe Darren would be a “bloody psycho”. He is vile. He would just drink too much and flip
‘I’m not going to defend him’
the switch I guess. I only witnessed one of his fights. It must have been 15 odd years ago.
‘Someone said something to him - a drunk tourist guy [in a pub] and he just lost it. There was blood everywhere. He used his own belt end. He didn’t get arrested. He ran off. I think the police are scared of him too.’
In Cardiff, his neighbour Rebecca Carpenter, 26, a pharmacist, said: ‘He always seemed an aggressive and strange person. He drove around in an old car that was always damaged. He never caused us any real problems, but we could often hear him shouting.
‘None of us have ever really spoken to him but we recognised him straight away when we saw him on the telly this morning.’
Another neighbour said: ‘He split up with his partner six months ago but he’s been coming back ever since to look after the kids.
‘He seemed to have lots of vans and cars. I think he must have been some sort of mechanic. Sadly he is a bit of a troublemaker. He is always arguing with neighbours in the street, shouting.’
His partner was described as ‘a really nice woman’ by regulars at her pub, with one saying: ‘Everyone said she was too good for him. But no one dreamed he would do this.’