[url
[/b]British soldier's alleged killer 'told police he went for jugular as he was hacked to death in London street because that is how animals are killed in Islam'
Michael Adebolajo told police in interview that he and Michael Adebowale waited at Woolwich Barracks to target a soldier
Fusilier Rigby 'just so happened to be spotted first', he added
Defendant said he cut soldier's throat because that is 'most humane'
He added that he wanted to meet Rigby's family and had no 'vendetta'
An Islamic extremist admitted trying to behead Fusilier Lee Rigby because ‘the most humane way to kill any creature is to cut the jugular’, a court heard yesterday.
Michael Adebolajo, 28, said he drove his car into Mr Rigby before he sawed his neck and then ‘attempted to remove his head’, the jury was told.
During a series of police interviews which were played to the Old Bailey yesterday, Adebolajo said he and his accomplice Michael Adebowale, 22, waited near Woolwich Barracks for a soldier to appear.
He said that they attacked the soldier as he was a ‘fair target’ and because they ‘wished to fulfil our promise to Allah’.
The defendant said they selected Mr Rigby simply because he was the first soldier to appear on the South London street where they were waiting on May 22. ‘It was almost as if Allah had chosen him,’ he said. When I thought about obeying Allah in the past I thought maybe it is possible to kill a man by driving into him.
‘When he crossed the road in front of me so casually it was almost as if I was not in control of myself. I accelerated, I hit him and I think I also crashed into a sign post.
‘We did not wish to give him much pain...I could see he was still alive. We exited the vehicle and I am not sure how I struck the first blow.
‘The most humane way to kill any creature is to cut the jugular. This is what I believe. This is how we kill our animals in Islam. He may be my enemy but he is a man...so I struck at the neck and attempted to remove his head.’
Adebolajo was then asked if he had expected to die on the day of the attack. He replied: ‘To be killed on the battlefield is not something we shy away from and, in fact, this is something that Allah loves.’
The footage of the interviews at Southwark Police Station shows Adebolajo wearing a blue blanket, which at some points almost completely covered his face.
At times the suspect stooped down and appeared to read passages from a gold and black copy of the Koran which was lying open on the table in front of him. He repeatedly asked to be called Mujahid Abu Hamza and stormed out of two of the four interviews after becoming angry.
During the first interview he ranted for 40 minutes, often wagging a finger in the air, about British troops ‘committing mass murder’ in Muslim lands. He said there was a ‘war between Muslims and the British people’ and he was a ‘soldier of Allah’.
When asked about the soldier’s killing, he said: ‘He was struck on the neck with a sharp implement and it was sawn until his head, you know, became almost unattached.
'And may Allah forgive me if I acted in a way that’s displeasing to him.’
Giving evidence at the Old Bailey yesterday, Detective Constable Dhuval Bhatt said he conducted an urgent interview with Adebolajo while he was still being treated in hospital to establish if there were going to be further attacks.
Adebolajo and Adebowale deny murdering Mr Rigby, conspiring to murder a police officer and attempted murder. They admit possessing a firearm. The trial continues.
Topic: Beheading in Woolwich