Van driver ‘hoped to kill Corbyn in attack’

A MAN accused of carrying out a terror attack at Finsbury Park had hoped to kill Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, he told a court.

Darren Osborne, of Glyn Rhosyn in Cardiff, is alleged to have deliberately mowed down Muslims outside two mosques in north London using a van at 12.15am on June 19 last year.

The 48-year-old, taking to the witness stand, said he had plotted with two men called Terry Jones and Dave to “plough through as many” people as possible at a proPalestinian march in central London the day before.

Mr Corbyn was also believed to be attending the event but was not there, and road closures meant there was no way for the vehicle to get close to marchers, Osborne told Woolwich Crown Court.

But he denied that he was the driver of the van when it later collided with worshippers in Finsbury Park and claimed he had been removing his trousers in the footwell of the passenger side.

The three, who had planned to form a Welsh far-right group called the “Taffia”, had initially plotted to murder Rochdale Labour councillor Aftab Hussain, the court heard. Osborne claimed Mr Hussain had backed one of the members of a grooming gang and “is and will remain a target”.

Osborne denies the murder of Makram Ali, 51, and the attempted murder of “persons at the junction of Seven Sisters Road and Whadcoat Street, London”.

The case continues.