On the morning of May 22nd 2013, Fusilier Lee Rigby was working at the Tower of London with his regimental recruiting team and assisting with ceremonial duties. Lee came from Middleton in Greater Manchester and was a married father with a 2-year-old son named Jack. Earlier in his military career, he had served as a drummer and machine gunner in the Second Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers and had previously completed a deployment in Afghanistan. His primary role was now in recruitment – as such, Lee was not in military uniform, but instead wore casual civilian attire: a black Help for Heroes hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans, and he was carrying a camouflage-patterned military rucksack.
Lee finished his shift at 1 PM and decided to head back to the barracks where he was stationed in Woolwich. Following a short walk from the Tower, CCTV captured him entering the Tower Gateway Docklands Light Railway (DLR) station to begin his commute back to southeast London. After a 35-minute train journey Lee arrived at Woolwich Arsenal DLR station at approximately 2:10 PM. The barracks was just ten minutes’ walk from the station, but Lee made what would be a fatal decision. As he walked down Wellington Street and crossed the junction with Artillery Place, instead of entering the Royal Artillery Barracks immediately, he decided to cross the road and headed toward a local shop. What would happen next would be remembered as one of the most brutal murders in modern British history.
As Lee stepped out into the road and looked up the street, he did not notice the two men who were sat in a blue Vauxhall Tigra with the engine running. Once the men in the blue Vauxhall were sure that Lee was looking away from them, they accelerated as quickly as they could and aimed their vehicle directly at him. The car quickly reached speeds of between 30 to 40 mph and struck Lee with such immense force that the impact threw him onto the bonnet of the vehicle, breaking five of his ribs and five of the vertebrae in his back. The vehicle was moving so fast that it mounted the pavement and smashed into a metal road sign, coming to an immediate halt. As a result, Lee was thrown into the space between the front of the car and an adjacent wall, what’s more, due to the impact, he was rendered immediately unconscious and completely unable to defend himself.
Believing they had just witnessed a horrific traffic accident, local shopkeepers and passersby rushed to help those involved. However, to their horror, the two men who had been in the car – Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale – immediately exited the crashed vehicle armed with a meat cleaver and knives. Adebolajo and Adebowale began threatening the public – warning people to stay back as they waved their weapons menacingly. What would happen next would leave onlookers traumatised. Over the next two to three minutes Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale would repeatedly attack Lee with such ferocity that the Judge who presided over their trial stated that the pair had “butchered” him.
Michael Adebolajo concentrated on Lee’s neck – hacking at it repeatedly. At first Adebolajo used the meat cleaver before eventually utilising another knife in an attempt to decapitate Lee. The Judge stated that Adebolajo did so for “maximum horrific effect”, but noting that the attempted decapitation ultimately failed, but left what were described as “horrendous” injuries. Michael Adebowale concentrated on Lee’s torso stabbing him a number of times in the chest and abdomen in a frenzied fashion. The Judge went on to state that the severe injuries “resulted in a blood bath” – which was exactly what the attackers had intended. Once the brutal attack had finished, the two killers then dragged Lee Rigby’s body into the road in Wellington Place and dumped it there for all to see.
By now panicked members of the public had made a 999-call and police and emergency services were on their way, but in the 13 minutes before armed police arrived at the scene, Adebolajo and Adebowale gloried in their actions. Michael Adebowale drew an antique, 90-year-old KNIL 9.4mm revolver and pointed it at various men in the growing crowd who may have otherwise stepped in to try and help Lee. At the same time, Michael Adebolajo walked directly up to a bystander who was filming the incident on their mobile phone. As he stood in front of the camera with his blood-soaked hands still clutching the meat cleaver and the knife he had used to attack Lee, Adebolajo delivered his justification for the attack.
This wasn’t an off-the-cuff speech, but a carefully written statement that had been prepared in advance. Adebolajo made it clear that the attack was directed specifically at military personnel and that civilians had nothing to fear. He stated: “We must fight them as they fight us. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” He then went on to apologise that women had to witness such violence, but claimed, “In our lands, our women have to see the same.” Finally, he directed his anger at the British government, stating, “You people will never be safe. Remove your governments, they don’t care about you.” Witnesses recalled the attackers behaving with a strange and surreal calmness as if they were inviting the public to interact with them and to take photos and videos of them. Once the speech was complete, Adebolajo handed a written letter to a member of the public named Beryl Afford.
During Michael Adebolajo’s address to the public, two brave women stepped forward. The first was Ingrid Loyau-Kennett: A 48-year-old Cub Scout leader who had got off a local bus to check Lee’s pulse, believing he was the victim of a car accident. When Adebolajo warned her to stay back, she engaged with him in conversation – talking to him for several minutes to keep his focus away from other pedestrians. She famously asked him why he did it, to which he replied that the pair had wanted to start a war in London. When she told him he would lose because it was only two of them against many, he replied, “No, a lot of people will join.” The second woman was Amanda Donnelly who was with her daughter, Gemini. They approached the scene and asked the attackers if they could sit with the body so that Lee would not be alone in the road. The attackers allowed them to do so, and the women shielded Lee’s body from public view and further harm.
It would take several minutes for the police to arrive at the scene, and as time passed, the two attackers became increasingly agitated. The previously calm demeanour of Adebolajo and Adebowale was starting to fade, and the pair were becoming impatient and they began pacing up and down Wellington Street and Artillery Place, occasionally shouting religious slogans as they eagerly awaited the arrival of the police. The murder of Lee Rigby was not their sole aim; they had one more goal in mind. The pair had planned to launch a final attack on police as they arrived with the intention of being shot dead in order to achieve what they viewed as “martyrdom.” But this did not go to plan, as after nine minutes, the first police officers to arrive at the scene were unarmed local patrol units from the Metropolitan Police.
Upon arriving at the scene at 2:29 PM, unarmed police officers immediately assessed that they were dealing with two heavily armed, highly erratic men who were standing over a heavily mutilated body. As the officers lacked firearms, they could not confront the killers safely, instead they chose to focus on public safety and set up a defensive cordon to keep the growing crowd of civilian bystanders back and out of harm’s way. Bystanders were shocked as Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale did not attack the unarmed officers, instead, they continued to wait near Lee’s body. Little did the crowd know, the killers’ apparent calm and muted response was because their objective was not to fight standard patrol units, but to wait for armed officers to arrive so they could initiate a lethal shootout.
Exactly fourteen minutes after the initial emergency call, a Metropolitan Police Armed Response Vehicle carrying three armed tactical officers reached the scene. The moment the armed officers pulled up in their vehicle, the killers launched their ambush and the surreal calm was shattered. Bystanders watched in horror as Michael Adebolajo immediately sprinted directly toward the police car, raising the meat cleaver in the air he then slammed the blade against the car as he appeared to desperately chop at the vehicle. A female firearms officer who was inside the vehicle later testified at the Old Bailey that she was trapped in the car and “instantly thought he’s going to kill me” as he stood, cleaver in hand, within a metre of the door she was sat next to.
As Adebolajo attacked the car with the meat cleaver, simultaneously, Michael Adebowale moved down the adjacent pavement and pointed the antique handgun directly at the officers trapped in the vehicle. As Adebowale advanced toward the vehicle with his gun drawn, the armed officers in the car immediately opened fire. The driver fired two shots through the front windscreen of the car whilst the officer in the front passenger seat fired through the open passenger side window of the vehicle. The initial volley of shots hit Michael Adebolajo, stopping his frenzied attack with the meat cleaver and forcing him backward away from the car and into the road where he collapsed, completely neutralising the threat he posed. The officers then exited the car and fired at Adebowale as he continued to aim the pistol at them. The entire firefight lasted only seconds, but left both attackers wounded and subdued.
When the London Ambulance Service and paramedics reached the scene immediately following the police shooting, they had to both assess Lee Rigby’s body and then treat his wounded attackers. Sadly, nothing could be done to save Lee’s life. The brutal injuries he had sustained over the nearly three-minute-long assault were so grievous and the resulting blood loss so great that Paramedic Nicholas Goh, who was the first to reach Lee, later went on to testify in court that it was instantly clear nothing could be done to save him, stating that Lee had suffered extreme “injuries not compatible with life”. Fusilier Lee Rigby was pronounced dead at the scene and paramedics covered his body to preserve the forensic crime scene and protect the public from further distress.
Paramedics then turned their attention to treating Michael Adebolajo, who was lying in the street after being shot by armed police. As paramedics treated his gunshot wounds, Adebolajo remained conscious and continued to vocalise his political and religious views. Paramedic Nicholas Goh reported that Adebolajo told him: “Please let me lie here,” followed by, “I don’t want anyone to die, I just want the soldiers out of my country. Your government is all wrong. I did it for my God.” Another paramedic, William Woolston, accompanied Adebolajo in the ambulance. He testified that Adebolajo expressed his desire to have been killed by armed police and made continuous remarks regarding Sharia law and foreign policy throughout the entire journey to the hospital. Paramedics also treated Michael Adebowale for multiple gunshot wounds, including injuries to his stomach and leg. Once stabilised in the street, he was placed into a separate ambulance and rushed to a different London hospital under a heavy armed police escort.
Adebolajo and Adebowale were kept under strict 24-hour armed police guard whilst in hospital. As soon as doctors declared the men medically fit to be questioned, detectives from the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command began formal interrogations of the suspects from their hospital beds. Michael Adebowale recovered faster and was discharged into police custody first. Michael Adebolajo spent a total of nine days in hospital before being released into police custody on May 31st 2013. Michael Adebowale was formally charged on the evening of Wednesday, May 29th 2013. Michael Adebolajo was formally charged on Saturday, June 1st 2013, the day after his release from hospital. Both men were charged with four offences; the murder of Lee Rigby, the attempted murder of the armed police officers, conspiracy to commit the murder of a police officer and possession of a firearm.
The two killers both made their initial court appearances at Westminster Magistrates court on separate dates. Michael Adebowale’s first court appearance was on Thursday, May 30th 2013. He arrived in handcuffs and was noticeably limping from the gunshot wounds he received before his arrest, he spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth, and address. Michael Adebolajo’s first court appearance was on June 3rd 2013; however, his first appearance was very different. Adebolajo held up a copy of the Koran and interrupted the hearing multiple times, he blew a kiss to the public gallery and forcefully instructed the deputy chief magistrate to only address him by his chosen Islamic name, Mujahid Abu Hamza. Both of the men were immediately remanded in custody and sent to HM Prison Belmarsh.
On Friday, September 27th 2013, Adebolajo and Adebowale appeared at the Old Bailey via video link from separate rooms in HMP Belmarsh. Sensationally, both men formally pleaded not guilty to the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby and also entered not guilty pleas to the other charges of the attempted murder of two police officers, conspiracy to commit the murder of a police officer and possession of a firearm. Members of Lee Rigby’s family, including his widow Rebecca Rigby, were present in the courtroom. According to media reports from the hearing, Rebecca Rigby broke down in tears as the two men callously denied the murder. The judge, Mr Justice Sweeney, accepted the pleas, officially ended the pre-trial phase, and scheduled the full criminal trial to begin on November 18th 2013. Both of the killers were then remanded back into custody at HMP Belmarsh.
The trial of Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale began on November 18th 2013 at the Old Bailey. It lasted for several weeks under exceptionally tight security and was presided over by Mr Justice Sweeney. The prosecution’s case was easy to prove, there was CCTV footage of the whole attack, as well as dozens of eye witness accounts and a wealth of forensic evidence. What’s more, police obtained clear financial records revealing that the murder weapons had been purchased the day before the attack from the popular high street catalogue shop, Argos – proving premeditation. It appeared that this would be an open and shut case, however, both the defendants had entered not guilty pleas, and Michael Adebolajo decided to testify and took the witness stand, not only to defend his actions, but to deliver a political and religious manifesto to the courtroom.
Michael Adebolajo insisted that he should not be tried as a murderer, claiming that he was a soldier fighting a holy war against the British military in retaliation for Western foreign policy in Iraq and Afghanistan. He openly declared his love for Al-Qaeda, calling its members his “brothers” and stating that he felt no remorse for killing Lee Rigby because he considered the soldier a legitimate military target. His calm, matter-of-fact delivery whilst describing the decapitation attempt left members of the jury visibly shaken. In stark contrast to his co-defendant, Michael Adebowale chose not to give evidence or take the witness stand. His defence team argued that his role was secondary and highlighted his fragile mental state, arguing that he had been heavily influenced and led by the older, more dominant Adebolajo.
The trial, which initially seemed to be a formality considering the overwhelming volume of evidence, would see another twist. Mr Justice Sweeney made a critical legal ruling regarding the secondary charge of the attempted murder of the armed police officers who arrived at the scene. The judge directed the jury that they could not convict Adebolajo and Adebowale of attempted murder on this specific count, as the 90-year-old handgun pointed at the officers was completely unloaded and broken. The charge was instead downgraded to attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent to resist arrest. Further to this, the Judge then directed the jury to acquit the pair of the charge of conspiracy to commit murder. Whilst this would not alter the overall trajectory of the case, it did appear to be a small legal victory for the killers as they were both acquitted on one specific charge and had another downgraded.
The trial finally concluded on December 19th 2013, and following the concluding arguments put forward by both the prosecution and the defence, the jury retired to consider their verdicts. Due to the wealth of evidence, and the fact that Michael Adebolajo had effectively admitted to the killing, the jury took just 90 minutes of deliberation to reach a unanimous decision: Both Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale were found guilty of the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby. The pair were also both found guilty of the downgraded charge of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm to the police officers and to the charge of possession of a firearm. However, there would be one final twist: following the verdicts, the judge was forced to delay sentencing until early 2014 to await a key Court of Appeal ruling (Vinter and Others v the United Kingdom) regarding the legality of ‘whole-life’ prison sentences under European human rights laws.
The sentencing hearing took place on February 26th 2014 at the Old Bailey and was again presided over by Mr Justice Sweeney. What took place became one of the most volatile and dramatic sentencing hearings in modern British legal history and resulted in a violent brawl inside the courtroom. The hearing descended into chaos before the judge could even deliver the sentences. As Mr Justice Sweeney read his sentencing remarks, he began by describing the killers’ actions as a “betrayal of Islam” and stated that the pair had become radicalised to a point of extreme danger. This acted as a trigger and caused the defendants to jump to their feet and begin shouting and gesturing at the judge.
Outraged by the judge’s comments, Michael Adebolajo stood up and began aggressively shouting “Allahu Akbar” (”God is greatest”) and “You are a lie!” at the bench. Simultaneously, Michael Adebowale stood up and began ranting against the British government. A team of six HM Prison Service security guards immediately rushed to the dock in order to restrain the two men. Both killers fought back violently, triggering a frantic physical struggle. The men were tackled to the floor, handcuffed, and forcibly dragged down the stairs to the holding cells below. Lee Rigby’s family, who were sitting just feet away in the public gallery, were visibly distressed and wept as the violence unfolded; after all that they had been through, this was a final cruel insult. Due to the commotion, the judge was forced to briefly suspend proceedings to allow security guards to restore order.
Because of the extreme violence and refusal to cooperate, Mr Justice Sweeney ruled that Adebolajo and Adebowale had forfeited their right to be present at the sentencing hearing. The judge then delivered the final sentences while both killers remained locked in the cells below, listening via an audio link. The judge applied the maximum possible penalties under English law, making a clear distinction between the two men based on their age, dominance, and the respective roles they took in planning and executing the murder plot. Michael Adebolajo was judged to be the leader of the pair, and as such he was sentenced to a whole life order, meaning he will never be considered for parole and will die in prison. Mr Justice Sweeney stated that Adebolajo was the undisputed leader, mastermind, and mouthpiece of the attack, noting that Adebolajo had no prospect of rehabilitation, showed zero remorse, and gloried in the slaughter of Lee Rigby.
Michael Adebowale was judged to be an accomplice in the murder plot. As such, Mr Justice Sweeney sentenced him to life imprisonment with a minimum sentence of 45 Years. This means that Adebowale must serve at least 45 full years in prison before he can even apply for parole (meaning he cannot be released until at least 2059, when he will be 68 years old). The judge granted Adebowale a slight reduction from a whole-life term because of mitigating circumstances. Mr Justice Sweeney felt that Adebowale’s younger age (he was 21 at the time of the attack) and his documented history of severe mental health issues, including schizophrenia, had made him susceptible to Adebolajo’s influence. In his final summary, Mr Justice Sweeney praised the immense dignity of the Rigby family and the astonishing bravery of the women – who were dubbed as the “Angels of Woolwich” – who had protected Lee’s body in the street after the initial attack had taken place.
Shockingly, both of the killers launched legal appeals. Michael Adebolajo attempted to appeal both his murder conviction and his whole-life prison sentence. Adebolajo’s legal representatives put forward a highly unusual legal argument, claiming his conviction for murder was unlawful. They argued that because Adebolajo considered himself a “soldier of Allah” fighting an “act of war” against the British state, he was technically outside the jurisdiction of “the Queen’s Peace” (a fundamental British legal principle meaning the laws of the land apply). The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas, swiftly dismissed the argument in just a few minutes, branding Adebolajo’s challenge to his conviction as “misconceived” and “completely hopeless”. The judges also firmly rejected his attempt to reduce his whole-life sentence, confirming that he must die behind bars.
Michael Adebowale did not challenge his conviction, but appealed against the length of his sentence, arguing that his minimum term of 45 years was excessive given his age and severe mental illness. The panel of judges threw his case out as well, ruling that a 45-year minimum sentence was entirely justified given the exceptionally public and gruesome nature of the joint enterprise murder. Following the conclusion of the appeal hearings, Lee Rigby’s estranged wife, Rebecca Rigby, expressed immense relief on behalf of the family, stating: “We are relieved that this is over and justice has been done.”
Michael Adebolajo is currently serving his whole-life order at HMP Woodhill, a high-security Category A prison near Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. Over the course of his sentence, prison authorities have moved him between several maximum-security facilities – including HMP Belmarsh, HMP Frankland, and HMP Full Sutton – primarily to isolate him from the general prison population and prevent him from attempting to radicalise other inmates. Michael Adebowale is serving his 45-year minimum sentence at Broadmoor Hospital, a high-security psychiatric hospital in Berkshire. Whilst he initially began his sentence in standard maximum-security prisons like HMP Belmarsh and HMP Wakefield, he was transferred to the psychiatric facility following a severe deterioration in his mental health and his persistent refusal to comply with medical treatment for his schizophrenia.
During their time in prison, both of Lee’s killers have been embroiled in multiple incidents involving violence, radicalisation, and a defiance of prison rules. Michael Adebolajo has been involved in multiple documented physical incidents, usually involving prison staff. Whilst he was awaiting trial at HMP Belmarsh in July 2013, Adebolajo was involved in a violent physical struggle with prison guards. During the confrontation, he was forcefully restrained and had his two front teeth knocked out. This resulted in five prison officers being suspended from duty while the Metropolitan Police investigated the incident. The Prison Officers Association strenuously defended the guards, stating they used approved control-and-restraint techniques on an erratic inmate. Ultimately, the investigation concluded that the guards had “no case to answer” and no criminal charges were brought.
In 2015, Adebolajo attempted to launch a personal injury lawsuit against the Ministry of Justice, demanding up to £20,000 in taxpayer compensation for the loss of his teeth. The Ministry of Justice fiercely fought the claim, and it was completely thrown out by a High Court judge. But Adebolajo was also involved in several further incidents of a different nature, and prison intelligence units quickly identified him as a severe security threat due to his active recruitment of other inmates. By 2017, a High Court hearing revealed that while held in maximum-security units, Adebolajo had built an ideological following and was actively trying to convert other high-profile prisoners to extreme forms of Islam and was active in spreading jihadist propaganda. To neutralise his influence, prison authorities shifted him across a rotation of top-tier Category A prisons – including HMP Frankland, HMP Full Sutton, and HMP Woodhill – keeping him strictly isolated from vulnerable inmates.
Michael Adebowale was also involved in several notable incidents, but these have predominantly stemmed from his severe psychiatric conditions rather than physical confrontations and Islamic radicalisation. Following his conviction, Adebowale’s paranoid schizophrenia deteriorated rapidly inside standard prisons. After repeatedly refusing to take essential psychiatric medication and experiencing severe psychotic episodes, he was officially transferred out of the standard prison system and into the high-security Broadmoor Psychiatric Hospital. In January 2021, Adebowale suffered a major medical emergency when he contracted COVID-19 whilst incarcerated at Broadmoor. His condition declined so drastically that he had to be removed from the psychiatric facility under heavy armed guard and placed on a ventilator in a public hospital before recovering and being returned to the psychiatric unit.
But this still leaves a number of questions unanswered: who were Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale – these two men had committed one of the most brutal and disturbing murders in British history – but what had set them on this course? Both of the men had very similar backgrounds – both were British citizens of Nigerian descent who grew up in Christian households before converting to Islam in their late teens. Michael Adebolajo was born in 1984 in Lambeth, South London, before growing up in Romford, Essex. His parents were devout Christians who worked in social work and healthcare. School friends described him as a popular, normal boy who enjoyed football. However, as a teenager, he became involved in local gang culture, shoplifting, and minor violent crime before turning to Islam. Michael Adebowale was born in 1991 in Eltham, Southeast London, his mother worked as a probation officer and his father worked as a member of the administrative staff for the Nigerian high commission. He attended a regular secondary school in Greenwich. In his mid-teens, he was severely traumatised after being bullied and witnessing a friend be stabbed to death by a local gang, which left him vulnerable and isolated, as a result he converted to Islam.
Both men were eventually targeted and recruited by Al-Muhajiroun, a terrorist group who were led by the radical Muslim preacher Anjem Choudary and were banned in the UK in 2010. Adebolajo converted to Islam in 2003 while at university and took the name Mujahid. He quickly became a prominent figure in the group and was regularly seen handing out extremist leaflets and shouting slogans on the streets of Woolwich and Tower Hamlets. Adebowale converted to Islam in 2009 at the age of 18, shortly after seeing his friend get stabbed to death in a gang conflict. Seeking protection, structure, and a sense of belonging, he was quickly taken under the wing of older members of the group – including Adebolajo – who is said to have exploited his fragile mental state and steered him down a violent and eventually murderous path.
But this was not just a case of two men who had been ‘radicalised’ and who held opinions that were deemed extreme. In 2010, Michael Adebolajo attempted to travel to Somalia to join Al-Shabaab, an Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group. He was arrested by Kenyan police near the Somali border and was deported back to the UK. The British counter-terrorism and security agency MI5 were fully aware of Adebolajo’s activities, and following his deportation back to Britain, they intercepted him, questioned him and investigated his contacts. But because of his deep “familiarity with jihadi circles,” MI5 intelligence officers didn’t seek to arrest him, but instead actually tried to recruit him as an informant. However, he flatly refused their approaches and frustrated with his experience overseas, he set his sights on waging war on British soil.
In the years that followed Adebolajo’s attempt to join Al-Shabaab, both he and Adebowale spent hours consuming Islamic extremist material online, particularly the lectures of Al-Qaeda recruiter Anwar al-Awlaki. During this period, the pair were still under surveillance by MI5 who were actively monitoring Adebolajo’s communications and associates. However, the intelligence agency claimed that none of their investigations uncovered any evidence that he was planning a terror attack. Adebowale was categorised by MI5 as a low-level “Subject of Interest”. He first came onto MI5’s radar in 2011 because of his loose association with known extremists, but as he did not display any active intent to travel abroad or to build weapons, the agency never placed him under tight or continuous surveillance. In the weeks leading up to the murder of Lee Rigby, the two killers exchanged 39 text messages. MI5 were aware of these communications, but noted that none of the conversations contained logistical data, targets, or details regarding the purchase of the knives used in the murder. MI5 stated that these messages kept Adebolajo and Adebowale “on the radar, but not under the microscope.”
The political and religious trajectories of Adebolajo and Adebowale illustrate something that the UK government is always hesitant to acknowledge: these men were not newly arrived immigrants, but were second generation migrants born on British soil, educated in England and who were not originally from Islamic backgrounds. Both Adebolajo and Adebowale were radicalised in Britain by groups and individuals that the British security services were well aware of. What’s more, Adebolajo and Adebowale themselves were very much on MI5’s radar, and Adebolajo had been deported from Kenya for trying to cross the border into Somalia to join an active terrorist group. The British state did not try to arrest him, but instead, attempted to recruit him and allowed him to continue operating openly on British soil, where he recruited others to his cause.
Furthermore, Michael Adebolajo had been openly working with the banned terror group Al-Muhajiroun for nearly a decade. This was so well known, that he had actually been filmed by the BBC standing directly behind radical preacher Anjem Choudary at a violent demonstration outside of the Old Bailey in 2006. During the demonstration Adebolajo was filmed shouting extremist slogans before eventually being arrested for assaulting a police officer – although he was later acquitted of this offence. This led many, including members of Lee Rigby’s family, to claim that authorities and the security services had hesitated to crack down on the killers and allowed them free reign due to their ethnic and religious backgrounds. Accusations were made that the British state were desperate to avoid claims of Islamophobia and racism, and as a result had allowed known extremists to remain at large. Others claimed that the state’s hesitation stemmed from a desire to ensure that political and religious extremism didn’t appear to the public to be overwhelmingly linked with individuals from migrant backgrounds.
The House of Commons Intelligence and Security Committee spent 18 months investigating these claims. However, the official government investigation that concluded in 2014 laid the blame at understaffing and the reluctance of social media giant Facebook to reveal messages sent by Adebowale which explicitly stated that he wanted to “murder a soldier”. Facebook had disabled Adebowale’s account for promoting terrorism, however they did so without alerting British police. Finally, the report concluded that whilst mistakes and administrative delays were made by MI5 and MI6 – including a “dismissive” approach to Adebolajo’s post-Kenya activity – the agencies did not possess any actionable intelligence indicating a domestic attack was imminent. To many, it appeared as though the British state was washing their hands of the failing and attempting to pass the blame.
Fusilier Lee Rigby was the victim of one of the most violent murders in British history. He was brutally attacked in broad daylight on a busy street just metres away from a military barracks, what’s more, his attackers attempted to decapitate him and then laid out his body for passersby to see. Lee was chosen by his killers because they had correctly identified him as a serving soldier, and despite him being dressed in civilian attire, his killers picked him out because of the distinctive Help for Heroes sweatshirt that he was wearing. What Lee suffered was not only an unthinkable level of violence and brutality, but also a humiliation, as his body was laid out for all to see like a gruesome trophy. Lee Rigby was of course a victim of Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, but he was also a victim of mass immigration, a foreign ideology and the inaction of the British security services.
Lee Rigby’s murder shocked the nation and the repercussions still reverberate in Britain today, with many believing that Lee would still be alive if government policy was not so heavily focused on silencing criticism of multiculturalism to the detriment of preventing crime. Lee is survived by his son Jack, who will never truly know his father, yet will grow up in a world where he will continue to read about the exploits of his father’s killers within the British prison system. And whilst Lee Rigby never lived to see his infant son grow up, his killers continue to live at the expense of the British taxpayer and continue to serve as inspiration for others who wish to commit similar horrors, many of whom still appear to be operating with impunity on British soil as the government and the security services desperately try to convince the nation that the real threat to public safety is the ‘far right’.
Thank you for this.
It's hard reading, but necessary.
This is where the conceit of our alleged “humanity” is exposed as profound stupidity.
They should reap what they sowed, as should anyone who takes another’s life.