Lee Rigby’s murderer ‘apologises’ 5 years later

THE extremist who murdered soldier Lee Rigby has expressed remorse for the barbaric killing for the first time.

Michael Adebolajo, 33, was handed a life sentence for butchering the 25-year- old off-duty fusilier with a meat cleaver as he walked home to his barracks in South East London in May 2013.

Adebolajo was subsequently described as having an ‘all-consuming devotion to radical Islam’. But he now claims to have ‘misinterpreted’ the Koran and is said to be turning his back on extremism.

Adebolajo, who tried to behead Fusilier Rigby with accomplice Michael Adebowale, now 27, has also said he wants to write to the soldier’s family to apologise.

But the remarkable U-turn is likely to be met with scepticism. Last night Fusilier Rigby’s mother, Lyn, 51, questioned whether Adebolajo’s latest comments were just another ‘sick ploy’ to heap more misery on her family. ‘Having a change of heart five years later will never erase what he did,’ she said. ‘He doesn’t deserve forgiveness or a second chance. I don’t believe that hate has gone away – it’s just a way of him seeking attention because he is locked away for life.’

According to prison sources, Al Qaedainspired Adebolajo, who was moved to a specialist unit at a top security jail because of fears he was radicalising other prisoners, now believes he was ‘brainwashed’.

A source told The Sun on Sunday: ‘He has never wavered from his beliefs before, which makes this confession all the more remarkable. A month ago he approached a fellow inmate and a member of prison pastoral staff to say he finally regretted the murder. He told them he acknowledged for the first time he had taken an innocent life.’