Finsbury Park terror attacker had expressed increasingly antagonistic views towards Muslims in the weeks following the recent London Bridge atrocity, it emerged last night.
Darren Osborne, 47, was arrested in the early hours of Monday on suspicion of driving a van into a crowd of Muslim worshippers in north London. He is alleged to have shouted “kill all Muslims” and “this is for London Bridge” in the wake of the attack.
Muslim residents on the Cardiff estate where he lived with his partner and four children, claimed he had previously been friendly but said his attitude had changed in recent weeks.
He allegedly hurled insults at his Asian neighbour’s 12-year-old son, in the wake of the Islamist attack in the capital earlier this month.
And just the night before the attack he was allegedly thrown out of a local pub after becoming embroiled in a bad-tempered row about immigration in which he was “cursing Muslims”.
Osborne was arrested in the early hours of Monday morning after driving a hire van into a crowd of men leaving a mosque in the Finsbury Park area of north London, almost 160 miles from his home.
One of the victims, 52-year-old Markram Ali, who was already receiving first aid, having collapsed just prior to the incident, died at the scene, while eight others were seriously injured.
Witnesses who dragged him from the cab, claimed he told them: “I want to kill Muslims…you deserve it…I did my bit.”
Another witness also claimed he was heard to shout: “This is for London Bridge.”
His mother Christine, 72, said on ITV News that her son was a “complex” person, adding: “I’m not going to defend him but you know he’s my son and it’s a terrible terrible shock and it’s not just robbing the bank, it’s an atrocity.
“At this moment in time I can’t cope with it, I can’t. It’s a terrible, terrible shock.”
And the Christians have starten retalieting? Lord help the world.