Lee Rigby murderers Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale sentenced to life and 45 years

The two religious fanatics were dragged out of the court as they fought with guards before they received their sentence.

15:34 27 February 2014

Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, the two men who killed Drummer Lee Rigby, were sentenced today and were given life and 45 years in prison.

These sentences were read after the duo was dragged out of court following a fight with the guards. They were restrained and wrestled to the ground before they were taken down to the cells. They retaliated following the judge’s conclusion that their act had been a “betrayal of Islam.”

Mr Justice Sweeney also said that Adebolajo had “no prospect of rehabilitation.”

In dramatic scenes, Adebolajo shouted “Allahu Akbar” which meant “God is the Greatest” while Adebowale said: “Britain and America would never be safe.”

Meanwhile, the defence team said that Adebowale’s whole-life sentence was “inhuman.”

Handing down the sentences while the two accused were out of court, the judge said: “You, Adebolajo, were the leader of this joint enterprise, albeit that Adebowale played his part enthusiastically. It was you who provided much, if not all, of the equipment and the car, and you were the mouthpiece on the day. You handed out a preprepared written statement seeking to justify your joint cause and actions. In addition, carrying the bloodied cleaver in your equally bloody hands, and knowing that you were being filmed, you made a political statement.

“Your sickening and pitiless conduct was in stark contrast to the compassion and bravery shown by the various women at the scene who tended to Lee Rigby’s body and who challenged what you had done and said.”
Meanwhile, Lee Rigby’s family have welcomed the verdict saying that the justice has been done for the victim.

Rebecca Rigby, the mother of Fusilier Rigby’s child, said: “I was also suddenly living in the public gaze. I couldn’t go anywhere or do anything, I felt like I didn’t want to go on. I saw people nudging and looking at me if I walked down the street. I know that my son will grow up and see images of his dad that no son should have to endure and there’s nothing I can do to change this.”

Prosecutor Richard Whittam QC, expressed his sympathy with Lee’s family. He said: “The scale of the impact on them of the nature of the murder of Lee Rigby in the circumstances made so public during the trial and after such a killing causing a son to predecease his parents and stepfather and leave those others who loved him without a husband or a soulmate is too obvious to set out in detail.

“He had a young son. All their lives have been irreparably changed for the worse.”