Michael Adebolajo gets whole-life jail term for Lee Rigby murder
Michael Adebolajo was sentenced to die behind bars on Wednesday for the "barbaric" murder of Lee Rigby, a soldier "butchered" in a London street.
Adebolajo, 29, was given a whole-life tariff while his accomplice Michael Adebowale, 22, who joined in "enthusiastically", was sentenced to life in prison with a 45-year minimum term.
The pair were not in court at the Old Bailey in central London as they were sentenced. They had been removed from the dock shortly beforehand after shouting protests at the remarks of the judge, Mr Justice Sweeney.
They were pinned to the ground by security guards before being removed to the cells.
A jury had found them guilty in December 2013.
On Wednesday the struggle in the dock was triggered when the killers, both wearing Islamic robes, reacted angrily to comments that the judge made about their extremist beliefs. He told them: "You each converted to Islam some years ago. Thereafter you were radicalised and each became an extremist, espousing views which, as has been said elsewhere, are a betrayal of Islam."
Adebowale protested that this was a lie, and began ranting about America and Britain, and Adebolajo then joined in, screaming "Allahu Akbar", and hurling abuse at the prison guards who grappled him to the ground.
Sobs could be heard from the Rigby family.
The judge had delayed sentencing until a court of appeal ruling clarified whether those convicted of the most serious murders could receive sentences meaning that they would never be released.
That ruling came earlier this month and paved the way for the two men who butchered Rigby in an attack in which he was almost decapitated to be face life imprisonment with no parole or prospect of ever being freed, though on Wednesday only Adebolajo was given a whole life term.
Outside court, supporters of the British National party and the English Defence League cheered when the sentences was announced. Many held placards which read: "Restore capital punishment."
Earlier on Wednesday the court were read victim impact statements from Rigby's family, telling of their pain and grief.
His wife, Rebecca, mother of their son, Jack, who was two at the time of the killing, said it had catapulted her into the "public gaze" leaving her feeling so distraught she felt she "did not want to go on".
She said: "Of all the feelings I have, the one thing that overrides everything is that I know my son will grow up and see images of his dad that no son should ever have to endure, and there is nothing I can do to change this."
The Met police's assistant commissioner Cressida Dick said: "Today's sentence reflects the true horror of their actions in taking this young man's life in such a barbaric way.
"Our thoughts remain with Lee's loved ones, who have shown dignity and strength throughout the judicial process.
"I would like to thank everyone who assisted my officers at the time of the incident, during the investigation and in preparing for trial, including the national CT network, security service and intelligence agencies, Crown Prosecution Service and counsel."
The savagery of the murder in May 2013, in which Rigby, 25, was repeatedly stabbed and hacked in the neck with a cleaver, had a deep effect on community relations.
It was the first murderous attack in Britain by those motivated by the al-Qaida ideology of violence since the 7 July 2005 bombings of London's transport system by four suicide bombers. The pair were the first al-Qaida-inspired terrorists to carry out their plan to murder on British soil without killing themselves in the process to come before an English court for sentencing.
Adebolajo, the dominant one of the pair of converts to Islam, and Adebowale had been convicted after one of the most overwhelming cases of guilt in English criminal history, with key parts of the attack caught on CCTV and smartphones.
They had waited for a victim as they turned British soldiers into prey, stalking them near Woolwich barracks in south London.
At the time of the attack, Rigby was attached to the regimental recruiting team and was on his way back to barracks in Woolwich from a shift working at the Tower of London. Previously he had served a tour of duty in Helmand, Afghanistan, fighting Islamist militants.
After running Rigby down with a car and pulling his body into the road, mutilating him so badly that he had to be identified by dental records, they remained at the scene and encouraged people to take pictures with their mobile phone cameras.
They claimed they were soldiers of Allah and driven to conduct a strike against the west because of their disgust at its foreign policy.
Adebolajo, assessed by a psychiatrist as sane, was recorded at the scene brandishing a cleaver and a knife in his bloodied hands, and with the body of Rigby lying metres away, saying: "We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you. The only reason we have done this is because Muslims are dying every day. This British soldier is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."
In a police interview, he said he had picked Rigby because he was the first soldier they saw. The fusilier was stabbed with weapons including knives bought from Argos the day before. He claimed he slashed his neck because it was the most humane way to kill someone and added: "So I struck at the neck and attempted to remove the head."
Adebolajo told jurors that he was a "soldier of Allah" and was obliged to obey the command of Allah. He described how he held the soldier's hair as he hacked at his neck in a motion described by one witness as like a "butcher attacking a joint of meat".
Adebowale did not testify in his own defence and his police interviews were not heard by the court.
After the conviction last December, Mr Justice Sweeney said he would pass sentence after a key ruling by the court of appeal on the use of whole-life terms. It was a clear signal that he was considering sentencing the men to die in jail. In two cases last year, Sweeney rejected crown demands for whole-life sentences, including a terrorist case where a Muslim man was murdered by a Ukrainian man who also staged a bombing campaign, who received a minimum term of 40 years.
Adebolajo, from Romford, and Adebowale, from Greenwich, are both from Christian Nigerian families and had attended events by extremist groups led by Anjem Choudary, linked to the now-banned al-Muhajiroun. Adebowale was attending events last year while Adebolajo had led rallies several years ago.
In her victim impact statement, Rebecca Rigby said the family had lived with the prospect of death while Rigby served as a soldier in war zones such as Afghanistan but never expected it on Britain's streets. She said: "When you wave someone off you accept that there is a chance you will never see them again. You do not expect to see this on the streets of the UK."
She said: "Lee will never be forgotten. We will always love him and miss him every day."
His stepfather, Ian Rigby, said in his victim impact statement: "All he was doing was just walking through London."
He told how he and others battled to comprehend the brutal killing of their loved one, saying: "It just doesn't click in your head."
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