Finsbury Park trial - as it happened: Court hears new evidence on 'whether Darren Osborne acted with others' in attack
Father-of-four, 48, denies charges of murder and attempted murder
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Woolwich Crown Court has heard evidence on whether the Finsbury Park attacker "acted together with other persons, specifically a man called Dave and a man called Terry Jones".
After a lengthy delay in proceedings, prosecutor Jonathan Rees QC called a police officer back to analyse new CCTV footage.
Darren Osborne, 48, denies charges of murder and attempted murder after allegedly ramming a van into Muslim worshippers shortly after midnight on 19 June.
The attack, deemed by prosecutors to be an act of terrorism, killed one man and seriously injured nine others, including a victim who was left trapped under the van.
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On Thursday, the jury heard that a 51-year-old man killed in the attack died of “catastrophic” injuries.
Makram Ali collapsed of unknown causes after leaving Ramadan prayers at the nearby Muslim Welfare House.
He fell to the ground just two minutes before the van struck and killed him shortly after midnight on 19 June, the court heard.
Some of the witnesses who rushed to help the grandfather previously speculated that he may have suffered a heart attack, but a Home Office pathologist said there was no abnormality.
Dr Simon Poole said low blood sugar or muscle weakness could have led to Mr Ali’s collapse but he was alive, talking and moving in the moments before being struck.
“The injuries are best summarised as being catastrophic,” he said. “The heart and lungs ceased to function abruptly... He would have died virtually instantaneously.”
Finsbury Park attack
Show all 14Reports from forensic collision investigators concluded that Mr Osborne “intentionally steered” the van, which he hired in Cardiff and drove to London, into the crowd of worshippers.
Tests found that the vehicle was in good condition and there was nothing in the road that would have caused Mr Osborne to swerve or crash.
The court previously heard the pro-Palestinian al-Quds Day march may have been the father-of-four’s original target but he found surrounding roads closed and started searching for mosques in London.
A statement from Mr Osborne’s partner alleged that the father-of-four became “brainwashed” after watching a drama on grooming gangs and reading far-right social media posts.
Witnesses who saw the defendant in a Cardiff pub the night before the attack heard him allegedly saying: “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.”
While in the pub, Mr Osborne was seen writing a letter believed to be the same one found in the van after the attack.
Police body-worn camera footage played to the jury earlier this week, showed the defendant launching into expletive-filled rants targeting Muslims, grooming gangs, Sadiq Khan, Jeremy Corbyn, Lily Allen and the Labour Party after he was arrested.
The trial continues.
Good afternoon and welcome to our live coverage of the ongoing trial of the alleged Finsbury Park attacker, Darren Osborne, at Woolwich Crown Court.
The case was adjourned on Friday and evidence is due to start at 2pm. Here is a summary of some of what the jury heard last week:
The start of today's proceedings has been delayed and we have not yet been allowed in the courtroom.
I'll keep you updated.
We are now inside the courtroom and the jury has been called in.
The prosecutor, Jonathan Rees QC says the prosecution is bringing further evidence on whether Mr Osborne acted with others, namely a man called Dave and a man called Terry Jones.
Mr Rees is presenting statements from staff at a pub in South Wales that Mr Osborne used to drink at called The Pick and Shovel.
Two managers describe him as a "bit of a loner" and said he never made any political or racist statements. They expressed shock at his alleged involvement in the Finsbury Park attack and said he had not been violent in the time they knew him.
DC Hazel Londt, of the Metropolitan Police, has been called to give evidence on CCTV footage showing the lead-up to the attack and who is behind the wheel of the van.
Asked too look at stills from one camera angle shortly before the attack, DC Londt says she cannot see anyone inside the van apart from Mr Osborne.
DC Londt is taking the jury through CCTV that shows the van stopped at 00.06am, minutes before the attack.
It shows Mr Osborne getting back in the cab with a drink and driving off.
DC Londt says cameras do not show anyone else getting inside.
The jury is being taken through new clips of CCTV showing the van looping around Finsbury Park in the minutes before the incident.
There is a 4 second gap where the van is not visible on any cameras but DC Londt says the cars surrounding it are in the same pattern when it re-appears, "indicating that the van has not stopped".
The jury has been played CCTV showing the other side of the incident in Whadcoat Street, on the other side of the dead end where the van crashed.
It shows the van coming to a stop and one figure get out of the drivers' side, stumble, and be chased by three people.
No other figures are seen getting out and the passenger side door is not seen to open.
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