Missed chances to stop mosque ‘attacker’
Sister says he tried to kill himself in ‘cry for help’ Policeman quizzed him hours before van horror
THE man accused of mowing down a crowd of worshippers outside a mosque recently tried to kill himself, his sister said last night.
Darren Osborne, 47, was depressed and struggling to cope as he drank heavily and had been forced to live in a tent after being thrown out by the mother of his four children.
His sister Nicola, who turned 50 on the day of the Finsbury Park attack, said that his behaviour was spiralling out of control and he had even begged to be sectioned.
Her comments came as it was revealed last night that a South Wales Police officer spoke to Osborne 24 hours before the attack after a resident found him sleeping inside the white rental van.
Speaking outside her Weston-Super-Mare flat, Miss Osborne wept as she said her brother is known in the seaside town as a ‘violent man and a thug’. But she insisted he is ‘not racist and not a terrorist’ and instead he is instead someone who ‘needs help’.
‘He tried to kill himself six to eight weeks ago. He threw himself into the river in Cardiff,’ she said.
‘He asked to be taken into care and wanted to be sectioned but the authorities wouldn’t do it.
‘He came to see me after he tried to kill
‘He wanted to be sectioned’
himself. He showed me the bump on his head. I don’t know how he got out of the river, or really what happened. He asked me if he could stay.
‘But he has made my life a misery over the years. Weston is a small town. Everyone knows Darren.
‘I’ve lost jobs, boyfriends after people found out I am Darren Osborne’s sister. I am his complete opposite.’
A landlord who threw him out of his pub the night before the horror said Osborne was worked up about a Muslim rally taking place in London.
It also emerged last night that Osborne reportedly stopped to ask for directions to Finsbury Park Mosque. Toufik Kacimi, 48, who runs the Muslim Welfare House just yards from where the van ploughed into crowds, said: ‘ The attacker was looking for Finsbury Park Mosque, but he couldn’t find the mosque. He knew exactly what he was doing.’
Counter-terrorist police continue to investigate the horrific north London smash in the early hours of Sunday morning which left 11 worshippers injured.
They were helping Makram Ali, 52, who collapsed and died minutes later in front of his 26year-old daughter.
Investigators are trying to untangle why an angry loser from Cardiff suddenly decided to drive 150miles across the country and unleash mayhem.
They continue to hold Osborne on suspicion of attempted murder and terrorist offences at a highsecurity south London police station after obtaining a warrant to detain him further.
Last night, a resident who lives on the same estate as Osborne, said he called police when he found him sleeping in the van.
Edward Gardiner said he tried to ask Osborne, who ‘smelled strongly of alcohol’, what he was doing before dialling 101.
The force confirmed that an officer attended and spoke to Osborne but took no action as there was no evidence that the father of four had driven the £80-aday van.
Meanwhile, relatives, school friends and neighbours said Osborne was an angry and violent man who often got into fights.
Born in Singapore, he went to primary school in Milton Keynes before moving to Weston-Super-Mare with his sister and mother, Christine. His father John moved to Abu Dhabi.
Miss Osborne said he suffered a disability after severing nerves in his hand while ‘stabbing’ a car in a violent rage.
She said: ‘I’m not going to say that he is an angel. But he is not racist and he is not a terrorist. He is someone who is lost. He needs help. He is not well. He is currently on antidepressants.
‘I feel so sorry for the people he hurt. And I hope that he didn’t cause that man’s death who had the heart attack. I am angry with him as well.’
Andy Parker, landlord of the Hollybush pub, was one of the last people to see him as he threw him out on Saturday night.
‘There was a Muslim rally going on this weekend in London. He kept going on about it. I’ve asked him to keep quiet because politics and pubs don’t mix,’ he said.
‘I just asked him to leave, he did …he was very opinionated, very wound up about the fact nothing was being done about the attacks on British people. He said it’s about time we stood up – that’s when someone said enough is enough and chucked him out.’
Cardiff and Vale Health Board declined to comment on whether Osborne received treatment for mental health problems.