Woolwich attacker 'mentioned religion', court hears

Abebolajo and Adebowale both deny murdering the soldier, as well as counts of attempted murder of a police officer and conspiracy to murder.

In a statement read to the jury at the Old Bailey by prosecutor Richard Whittam QC, Ms Cave, who was driving down John Wilson Street in Woolwich, south east London, when she witnessed the scene, said: “I was next to the body, only a few metres from the male.

“I spoke to them – are you going to hurt us?

“He said ’The women and children are safe, you need to keep back when the police and soldiers get here’.

“They then started shouting about religion and Afghanistan and the damage other soldiers have done.”

When Ms Cave first arrived, she spoke to another woman on the ground next to Fusilier Rigby and said she was “around to help” as she was first-aid trained.

Ms Cave said: “She said ’There’s nothing that can be done. He’s gone’.”

Ms Cave said one of the men claimed the attack was “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”.

Paramedic Daniel Middleton, who arrived at the scene on his own, said in a statement that one of the men was holding two meat cleavers and appeared to be “sharpening” them.

A note that Adebolajo passed to witness Amanda Donnelly Martin as she sat next to Fusilier Rigby’s body trying to comfort him was read to the jury for a second time.

It said: “If you find yourself curious as to why carnage is reaching your own towns then know it’s simply retaliation for your oppression in our towns.”

A video of Adebolajo speaking to cameras with bloodied hands was also played again.

In the clip he says: “The only reason we’ve killed this man today is because Muslims are dying daily by British soldiers.

“This British soldier is one – he is an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”

Adebolajo goes on: “I apologise that women had to witness this today but in our lands our women have to see the same.”

Michelle Nimmo was driving along Artillery Place in a Vauxhall Antara with her baby in the back and mother, Tina Nimmo, in the front passenger seat.

In a statement, Ms Nimmo said one of the alleged attackers had a “smirk” on his face and both men appeared “proud”.

She saw a man “lying face down on the floor, covered in blood”.

She said the two men “dragged him” into the road and “continued to chop away at him all over”.

Ms Nimmo added: “They looked very proud of what they had done.”

Describing one of the men, she said: “He had his back to me but when I turned around he had a smirk on his face.”

She went on: “Throughout the attack, the two men had an evil look on their face.

“They stood around looking proud and posing with the gun and knives. They made no attempt to run away.”

Tina Nimmo, giving evidence in person, raised her arm above her head and brought it down sharply as she described seeing one of the attackers stabbing Fusilier Rigby, recalling that she saw him ``chopping down at something on the floor''.

She broke down in tears as she told jurors how she saw the soldier’s body dragged into the road.

Prosecutor Mr Whittam asked her: “Did you see the body pulled out into the road?”

She replied: “Yes, I did.”

He asked: “It was obviously a very shocking event.”

“It was,” she answered.

“Did you see one of the men with a gun?” Mr Whittam asked.

She replied: “Yes, I did.”

Ms Nimmo pleaded with the two knifemen to stop, shouting and swearing at them.

“I wanted them to stop. At the time you just get on and do what you have to do. And that’s what I had to do.”

A bus stopped near the scene and she warned passengers to stay back because one of the men had a gun.

As the crowd approached, she told the jury that the pair, who were holding two bloodied knives and a meat cleaver as well as the gun, “posed a bit more. Very proud of what they had in their hands.”

Dialling 999, she warned the operator that they would need armd support, the court heard.

“These chaps weren’t going anywhere, they were standing there. It just became more and more obvious that something was going to happen.”

The court heard a statement from Sarah Riordan, a heavily pregnant woman near the scene who described experiencing “contracting pains” as the events unfolded.

After the police arrived, she heard gunshots and took refuge behind a number 53 bus.

“I started having contracting pains every two or three minutes,” she said. “I tried to get on the bus but the driver wouldn’t let me on.”

Another bus driver, in a number 291 vehicle, opened the door and invited her on board and told Ms Riordan to get her “head down”.

At one point, she described shouting at the bus driver because of the “pain of the contracting”.

“Eventually a police woman said everything was OK,” she said.

Ms Riordan was taken to hospital for a check-up, the jury heard.

She said: “Fortunately everything was all right with my baby and me.”

Another eyewitness, Graham Wilders, described a confrontation between a passer-by and a police officer who had arrived at the scene, but was waiting for the armed response team.

Mr Wilders said: “He was mouthing off to the police officer, asking why the police were not doing anything.

“The police officer was fighting him.

“I said ’F****** go up there and take the gun off him’. He then turned and went into his block of flats.”