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The man who ploughed his van into a crowd outside a London mosque has been found guilty of murder

Darren Osborne killed one person at Finsbury Park in June 2017.

  • Darren Osborne drove a van into worshippers outside two London mosques in Finsbury Park, London, last June.
  • He killed one person and injured many others.
  • He has been found guilty of murder and attempted murder.
  • During his trial, he claimed that he wanted to kill Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Darren Osborne, the man who drove a van into a crowd outside a London mosque last June, has been found guilty of murder.

The 48-year-old killed one man — 51-year-old Makram Ali — and injured nine others after he deliberately ploughed into worshippers outside two mosques in Finsbury Park, north London, at 12.16 a.m. last June.

He is said to have shouted "I want to kill all Muslims" after the attack.

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He was found guilty of murder and attempted murder at Woolrich Crown Court in London on Thursday.

The judge is also considering whether Osborne's offences were connected to terrorism, the London Metropolitan Police said.

During his trial, Osborne claimed that he wanted to kill Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn at a pro-Palestinian march in London.

He said that killing Corbyn "would be one less terrorist off our streets," and that murdering Khan "would have been like winning the lottery."

According to the prosecuting lawyer, Jonathan Rees QC, Osborne was "brainwashed" into Islamophobia after watching a BBC drama about an underage sex grooming gang run by Muslim men in Rochdale, Manchester.

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Rees said that Osborne's girlfriend at the time, Sarah Andrews, noticed that Osborne "became obsessed" with the drama, and "started researching associated topics on the internet, including material featuring Tommy Robinson, the co-founder and former spokesperson for the English Defence League (EDL).

"The defendant started making racist comments about all Muslims raping children and being capable of blowing people up. It appeared to her that he was becoming brainwashed."

Commander Dean Haydon, the head of the Met's counterterrorism unit, said on Thursday: "Osborne's evil and cowardly actions meant a family has tragically lost a husband, father and grandfather. [...]

"If Osborne’s aim was to create divisions and hate between communities, then from what I have seen, he has failed in that respect. The way that the local community in Finsbury Park — of all faiths and backgrounds — came together was astounding and this reaction was the same across London and the UK."

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