WARPED ON WEB BY VILE FAR-RIGHT
As father of four is found guilty over mosque van attack, police tell internet giants to purge hatred that inspired him to strike
‘We cannot be complacent’
INTERNET giants were in the dock last night after police accused them of failing to take down vile racist material which sparked the Finsbury Park attack.
Darren Osborne, 48, binged on far-Right material as he plotted the suicide van attack that killed one and left 12 injured.
The BBC drama Three Girls, about the Pakistani Muslim sex grooming gangs in Rochdale, also fed into his extraordinary hatred.
Police said he was ‘fuelled’ by online posts by English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson and Britain First figurehead Jayda Fransen. A senior counter terrorism officer called on social media firms to be more ‘proactive’ in shutting down the most inflammatory posts.
As the Scotland Yard Commander said he would not ‘rule out’ asking for laws to be tightened, it was revealed that:
Osborne has a 30-year history of violence and served a two-year jail sentence for assault after attacking a friend in his home;
He modelled a propaganda letter seeking to justify his actions on a series of incendiary tweets by Robinson;
Twitter faces questions over why it continues to give Robinson a platform to reach millions but deleted accounts linked to Britain First;
Police refused to disclose all of Osborne’s hate-filled interviews for fear of inciting more violence;
They warned that violent Right-wing extremism was at its most threatening level in Britain since the Second World War.
Osborne will find out if he will die in prison today after he was convicted of murdering Makram Ali, 51, and attempting to kill ten others after they had attended Ramadan prayers.
A jury at high security Woolwich Crown Court took 59 minutes to find him guilty of both offences after a nine- day trial. The father of four, accused of ‘ playing it for laughs’ by blaming the attack on mystery men named Dave and Terry, nodded as the verdicts were read out.
He spent more than 12 hours prowling the capital hunting for Muslims to run down with his rented van on June 18 last year. It was only by chance that he came across a crowd of men in traditional robes attempting to help Mr Ali, a grandfather, after he collapsed in Finsbury Park.
Police fear he could have claimed many more lives were it not for road closures which barred access to hundreds attending an annual march of Islamic solidarity.
Scotland Yard investigators were shocked to discover that although Osborne had a history of violence, he did not have long-term far-Right beliefs. Instead, the BBC programme Three Girls, about the Pakistani Muslim sex grooming gangs, kindled his hatred, and within a month of watching back-to-back episodes of the drama he was gorging on dozens of Right-wing videos and other material accessed online.
These left him obsessed with the sex grooming scandal, the terrorist attacks in London and Manchester and Labour politicians Jeremy Corbyn and Sadiq Khan.
Osborne, who was not technically competent, used phones and laptops belonging to his estranged wife Sarah Andrews and children to search Google, Twitter and Facebook.
A fortnight before the attack he asked Mrs Andrews to set up a Twitter account for him so he could follow the far-Right extremists.
After ‘following’ Fransen and Robinson he received emails asking him to attend a march in Manchester and contribute to a campaign legal fund.
At the heart of these activities was the Twitter account of Robinson, who he searched for 34 times in the days before his attack.
Twitter deleted the accounts of Fransen and fellow Britain First leader Paul Golding in December after their posts were shared with millions by Donald Trump.
But Robinson, arguably Britain’s leading far-Right poster boy, continues to command almost 400,000 followers on the platform.
In one message, referring to the Manchester bombing, Robinson wrote: ‘Where was the day of rage after the terrorist attacks. All I saw was lighting candles.’
In another, he wrote: ‘Anger? When a Muslim bombed our kids we were told not to look back in anger?’
Osborne appeared to parrot these lines in his own propaganda letter, asking ‘where was the public outrage’ at the Muslim sex grooming scandal. Police secured court orders to obtain details of Osborne’s social media and online activities before the attack. In public, they insist they have good relations with the US firms, who now have specialist departments for handling inquiries linked to criminal investigations. But privately they remain concerned that potentially vital information is being withheld because companies often put their customers’ privacy first.
Commander Dean Haydon, of Scotland Yard, said the internet material was the ‘main driver’ behind the attack. But he said although much of it is ‘unpleasant and unpalatable’ it does not necessarily break laws covering hate speech or terrorism.
He added: ‘That makes it really difficult for us to police. It is out there … and it certainly affected Osborne and played a part in his radicalisation.’
Police said a third of all referrals for to the Prevent counter-terrorism program now involve allegations of farright activities. Mr Haydon, who leads Counter Terrorism Command, added: ‘The internet companies could be more proactive in taking material down themselves.’
Harun Khan, of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: ‘The scenes we witnessed last summer were the most violent manifestation of Islamophobia yet in our country. We cannot be complacent and regard this as a oneoff terrorist incident.’
Last night, Robinson insisted he had no ‘direct contact’ with Osborne. He said: ‘I did not encourage this man to commit this crime and I have never encouraged or supported violence as a way to respond to jihad in Britain.’ Osborne will be sentenced today.