Finsbury Park attack trial as it happened: Witnesses describe Darren Osborne's alleged van ramming to court
Updates from Woolwich Crown Court as Osborne denies murder and attempted murder
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Survivors of the terror attack in Finsbury Park have evidence on the third day of Darren Osborne’s trial.
Witnesses told the jury how a crowd of Muslim worshippers were helping a man who collapsed when a van ploughed into them at speed, scattering victims in its wake.
Mr Osborne attempted to flee from the vehicle but found himself trapped in a dead end, the court heard, and was restrained by survivors while allegedly telling them: "I've done my job, you can kill me now."
Woolwich Crown Court previously heard that the 48-year-old became “brainwashed” after watching a drama on grooming gangs and read posts by Tommy Robinson and the leaders of far-right extremist group Britain First.
He is accused of running a hired van into crowds of Muslim worshippers shortly after 12.15am on 19 June last year, killing 51-year-old Makram Ali and injuring nine other victims.
Mr Osborne denies charges of murder and attempted murder.
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On Tuesday, the court heard from a local van hire company that rented Mr Osborne the vehicle used in the attack.
Employees said there appeared to be nothing unusual about the transaction and that the defendant, arriving to pick up the van alone, was “polite and well-mannered”.
The court also from witnesses who saw Mr Osborne drinking in The Hollybush pub in Cardiff the night before the attack.
They told the jury he claimed to be writing a letter to the Government and had told them: “I’m going to kill Muslims, your family are going to be Muslims, they’re all terrorists and I’m going to take it into my own hands.”
Mr Osborne allegedly told drinkers about a march due to take place the following day in London for al-Quds day, which prosecutors said he had researched online.
Finsbury Park attack
Show all 14A taxi driver told the court he gave Mr Osborne, who had driven from Cardiff, directions to the location where the concluding rally was being held on 18 June but that the surrounding roads were closed off.
Other members of the public alleged that the defendant asked them directions to mosques in different parts of London later in the day, finally specifically asking how to get to “the big mosque” in Finsbury Park.
Jurors were shown CCTV footage of the scene near the Muslim Welfare House at around midnight, where Mr Ali collapsed and Muslim worshippers leaving prayers rushed to help him.
Mr Osborne stared straight ahead as the court was played footage of the moment the van swerved from the main road into the crowd at speed, leaving casualties scattered on the ground.
A handwritten note – which complained about terrorists, grooming gangs and targeted public figures including Jeremy Corbyn and Sadiq Khan - was found in the cab of the van after the attack.
The trial continues.
Good morning and welcome to our coverage of the third day of Darren Osborne's trial for allegedly killing one man and injuring nine others in a van attack targeting Muslims in Finsbury Park.
Today we expect to hear evidence from witnesses who survived the attack and were at the scene.
The jury has filed in and we are ready to start hearing evidence, with the first witness called a man called Mohammed Geedi.
Mr Geedi says he was wearing a long grey garment that he regards as traditional Islamic dress at the time of the incident on 19 June.
His friend was giving him a lift to the Muslim Welfare House because he was running late for the Ramadan night prayer he planned to attend.
Mr Geedi says: "I saw a lot of crowds standing at the junction, they were all scattered around and I saw an old man there.
"When I first saw him he was on his feet but then I think he dropped - the car stopped and I got out and crossed the road and I saw him on the floor."
While he points out exactly where he was standing on the map to the jury, here is a reminder of what the court heard yesterday, on the second day of Darren Osborne's trial:
Mr Geedi says that when he got to the crowd surrounding Makram Ali, who had collapsed, there were already around a dozen people around him and one man was on the phone to the ambulance.
"I could clearly see his face...I could see the movement of his lips, he was reciting something but I was too far away to tell what it was."
He says Mr Ali had a minor injury to his head "like a scratch" but no other wounds and was being helped by several people.
Mr Geedi says he was "alive" and conscious as more people came out of the mosque trying to help, with another member of the public checking Mr Ali's pulse.
Mr Geedi says he saw a white van's lights approaching and heard it revving up and accellerating towards the group while turning left.
He was caught by the van's driver side wing mirror, which clipped him on the shoulder and knocked him to the ground.
"It pushed me tot he side of the road and I fell against an old lady."
When he looked up "I could see a lot of people splattered all over the place. The van had just stopped, I could see the brake lights coming on...it was a dead end."
Mr Geedi says Mr Osborne got out the van and tried to escape before seeing the dead end, then doubled back towards the main road.
The witness said he feared that he would have a gun or a knife like the London Bridge attack weeks before but ran back to tackle him when he saw he was unarmed.
He says a lot of people were "trying to grab him" but he was punching them and lashing out. Mr Geedi says he was one of around six people who struggled to pin Mr Osborne to the ground and pin his hands behind the back as the van's engine was still running.
He overheard someone asking "why did you do this? Why did you do this?"
Mr Geedi heard no response, but then recalls the imam coming out of the mosque and shouting: "It's not worth it"
Mr Geedi said that when he saw Mr Ali after the collision he had suffered severe injuries, which are too graphic to publish, and that his body had been moved some distance from where he had been lying before.
A person was still trying to give him CPR.
A statement from another witness, a bus driver called Mohammed Ismail, has been read to the court.
He had just come out of a cafe and was smoking with a friend when the van hit.
"He had his foot flat to the floor and it was revving as it came towards us," he said, describing how the driver had jumped out the van and got stuck in a dead end barred by a metal gate and high fence, before turning back.
"I was in shock...I couldn't move for a couple of minutes, but then the adrenaline kicked in," he said.
Mr Ismail and his friend ran after Mr Osborne and he was one of the men who helped restrain him before police arrived.
He said the alleged attacker kept on struggling as he was on the ground, trying to push himself up to run away.
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