It was told that Michael Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22, drove at Fusilier Rigby before attempting to decapitate him on the street close to his barracks on 22 May.

Both are also accused of attempting to murder a police officer and conspiracy to murder a police officer.

They both deny all charges.

There were gasps in court as CCTV footage was shown of Fusilier Rigby being rammed by a car and thrown into the air and onto the bonnet.

The footage showed the soldier walking along the street wearing a Help for Heroes T-shirt and a backpack, before the car veered across a carriageway, hitting him from behind.

The jury was then shown images from two CCTV cameras of the two men dragging the unconscious Fusilier Rigby's body into the road, stopping traffic.

'Like a butcher'

Throughout this morning's opening evidence in court 2 of the Old Bailey, Richard Whittam QC took the jury carefully through detailed - but extremely graphic - evidence.

He described in precise detail the manner of the assault and killing of Lee Rigby, and throughout this evidence everybody in court sat in utter silence.

The defendants, sitting in the dock with seven security officers, could not see Fusilier Rigby's family.

Part of the glass surrounding the dock had been papered over to block their view.

As the prosecutor told the jury he was about to show the soldier's final movements, Lyn Rigby, Lee's mother, quietly left the court with tears in her eyes.

When the jury saw the video of the car ramming into the soldier it took the breath away of some watching in court.

And then silence returned.


The two defendants arrived at court amid tight security and appeared in a glass-lined dock in the Old Bailey courtroom with paper on one side to restrict their view.

Members of Fusilier Rigby's family attended as the prosecution made its opening statement.

The soldier's mother Lyn Rigby left the court in tears as the prosecutor told jurors they were about to see her son's final moments.

Prosecutor Richard Whittam QC told jurors that the two suspects drove a Vauxhall Tigra "straight at" Fusilier Rigby at around 30-40mph.

He said: "Both men then dragged his body into the middle of the road. They wanted members of the public to see the consequence of what can only be described as their barbarous acts.

"They had committed, you may think, a cowardly and callous murder by deliberately attacking an unarmed man in plain clothes from behind, using a vehicle as a weapon, and then they murdered him and mutilated his body with that meat cleaver and knives."

Mr Adebolajo tried to decapitate the soldier with a meat cleaver with "multiple blows to his neck", while Mr Adebowale stabbed and cut him, the jury heard.

Mr Whittam said it appeared that Mr Adebolajo "made a serious and almost successful attempt to decapitate" Fusilier Rigby.

Mr Adebolajo carried a cleaver in his right hand and knelt down and took hold of the soldier by the hair, hacking at the right side of his neck just below the jaw line, the prosecutor said.

An eyewitness described three blows.

Another witness, Gary Perkins, described the defendant's actions as being "like a butcher attacking a joint of meat", the prosecutor said.

At the same time, Mr Whittam said, Mr Adebowale "was using a knife to stab and cut at the soldier's body".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25153273

This has been breaking news in all major news networks CNN BBC, Aljazeera, very negative publicity for Nigeria, but the news has to be told.
And to think they did it for the sake of religion is even more disturbing.