London mosque attacker jailed for at least 43 years

A Briton who deliberately drove a van into a group of worshippers near a London mosque, killing one man, was yesterday sentenced to life in prison with a minimum 43-year term.

Darren Osborne, 48, from the Welsh capital Cardiff, was found guilty of murdering 51-year-old Makram Ali and trying to kill others in the Finsbury Park area of north London in the June 19 attack.

Passing sentence at a London court, judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb told Osborne: "This was a terrorist attack. You intended to kill."

She added that he had been "rapidly radicalised" and that his "mindset became one of malevolent hatred".

"In short you allowed your mind to be poisoned by those who claimed to be leaders."

Ruzina Akhtar, daughter of Ali, told reporters that the family was "very pleased with the guilty verdict".

"He was such a peaceful and simple man, he had no bad thoughts for anyone," she said.

"We cannot imagine the trauma he felt in the last few minutes. He will never be forgotten."

Osborne, 48, became radicalised over a month last year after watching a television programme about a child sex ring scandal involving a gang of mainly Muslim men in northern England.

Prime Minister Theresa May's office warned of the risks of right-wing extremism online, saying "the internet cannot be used as a safe space for terrorists or those who want to spread terrorist or extremist content.

"The prime minister has made clear that internet companies need to go further and faster in removing this sort of content from their websites," added the spokesman.

Former far-right leader Nigel Bromage called the attack "a sobering reminder that the threat from far-right extremism is no different from the Islamist threat.

"Both share a common desire to spread fear and divide society, ultimately two sides of the same coin," he added.