There is “no doubt” that far-right material posted online by the likes of Tommy Robinson and Britain First drove the Finsbury Park terror attacker to target Muslims, the UK’s most senior counter-terror officer has said.
Mark Rowley, the outgoing Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said Darren Osborne – an alcoholic, suicidal, unemployed “loner” – was vulnerable to radicalisation.
“He had grown to hate Muslims largely due his consumption of large amounts of online far-right material including, as evidenced at court, statements from former EDL leader Tommy Robinson, Britain First and others,” he told an event in London.
“Osborne had a ‘dysfunctional’ background and history of alcohol and drug abuse, and violence.
“There can be no doubt that the extremist rhetoric he consumed fed into his vulnerabilities and turned it into violence.” [The Independent] Read more
