In the Finsbury Park trial the defendant Darren Osborne has taken to the witness box as the first witness for the defence.
Darren Osborne has taken the oath on the bible. He has a slight West Country accent
Darren Osborne says he was not the driver of the van. It was a guy called Dave. He says he met Dave in the Pick and Shovel pub in Treforest
He says that he also met Terry Jones in the Pick and Shovel pub. He says the three of them would meet in the pub or go for walks. They would discusss their political views
They would discuss the London and Manchester attacks. But the “most talked” about was the BBC drama Three Girls about grooming in Rochdale.
He says their original target was the “Labour MP” Mr Hussain who gave the character witness in Rochdale. Then they planned to “carry out an attack” on the Al Quds Day March in London
“Our intention was to go up there and cause as much damage as possible”
Darren Osborne says he rented the van and drove it to London. He says he was going to the Al Quds march. Lisa Wilding QC “Did you see Terry or Dave that day?” Darren Osborne “Yes”
He says he saw Terry and Dave at Grosvenor Square but they were not able to carry out their plans. “Roadblocks. Security etc thwarted our plans” Also Jeremy Corbyn was not there.
He says they then started looking for mosques to “cause a bit of a stir or something”
He ended up in Lewisham “I kind of stumbled upon it or something.” He says at that point he was alone in the van.
He says he ended up in Finsbury Park “because it was Jeremy Corbyn’s constituency”, he says he was looking for the mosque. He was in touch with Terry and Dave but they had not made any plans.
He says “We did make a joke about it being a shame that Abu Hamza was not having one of his sermons up there.”
He says he got out to get a coffee and asked someone where the mosque was. There was no discussion (with Terry or Dave) about what was going to happen next.
Darren Osborne says that he got back in the van. He went up Seven Sisters Road and did a U-turn in Station Place but at some point as he weant through the “tunnel by the mosque” Dave “popped in the van”
Then they swapped drivers “I can’t remember exactly where about it was ....We just changed over while the vehicle was in motion...It wasn’t long after that that the incident occurred.”
“I thought nothing was going to happen. I thought we were just going to have a drink somewhere” Darren Osborne says he was “in the footwell” while Dave was driving. He says he has “no idea” where Dave went after the collision.
He says “The door opened and Dave was gone”. Darren Osborne says he was the one detained and arrested at the scene.
The Prosecution (Jonathan Rees QC) is now cross-examining. “Do you often travel in the footwell” “No. I changing my trousers...taking them off” “Did you manage to take them off?” “No”
“Were you driving the lorry?” “No”. “And Dave’s last name, you can’t remember that? It wasn’t Unicorn was it?”
“Is that what you are doing in front of this jury being tried for murder and attempted murder? Having a laugh?” “I am at a loss why you would draw that conclusion.”
“You are admitting that along with Dave and Terry you conspired to murder Mr Hussain?” “This man should not be in office”
“Were you hoping that Mr Corbyn would be there?” (At the Al Quds March) “Were you hoping that you would have an opportunity to attack Mr Corbyn and kill him?” “Oh yeah. It’d be one less terrorist on our streets..and if Mr Sadiq Khan had been there it would have been even better.”
Darrren Osborne says “we were hoping to form a Welsh far right group called the Taffia”
The prosecution disputes the existence of Terry or Dave
Darren Osborne says that when Dave drove into the crowd it was a “spontaneous act”. “My recollection is rather vivid”
Darren Osborne: “I was up for an attack that day, but when we got to Finsbury Park I was exhausted”. He says that “I thought we were going to do something with a bit more substance you know.”
A pause in Osborne’s evidence. We are having a “comfort break”
We have resumed. Jonathan Rees QC is pointing out that Darren Osborne didn’t give anyone a defence case statement until Friday, having been asked to serve one by October
Darren Osborne is now saying that some of his defence case statement served on Friday was incorrect.
When asked why, Darren Osborne says “I’ve got no explanation for that”
Darren Osborne is now saying that part of his defence case statement that says he was in the vehicle “in support of Dave and in the knowledge that the driver was intending to use the vehicle to attack a Muslim target” is wrong
We are taking a break
The jury are back in. I will be tweeting less as I prepare for tonight’s Six O’Clock News, unicorn and all
