Finsbury Park attack trial as it happened: Court hears of moment van 'intentionally' driven into crowd near mosque
Darren Osborne in court for fourth day of trial, where he denies murder and attempted murder
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The Finsbury Park terror trial has heard evidence from crash analysts and other experts as the prosecution closed its case against Darren Osborne.
The 48-year-old father, from Cardiff, is accused of deliberately ploughing a van into a crowd of Muslim worshippers leaving Ramadan prayers on 19 June last year.
Makram Ali, a 51-year-old grandfather who had previously collapsed and was surrounded by well-wishers at the time, died of his injuries and nine other people were seriously wounded.
A pathologist told the court Mr Ali had not suffered a heart attack and was killed by "catastrophic" injuries caused by being run over.
Reports by forensic crash investigators found that Mr Osborne sped up and "intentionally steered" the van into pedestrians and did not brake as he hit them, the jury was told.
Mr Osborne, of Glyn Rhosyn, denies murder and attempted murder at Woolwich Crown Court and the hearing has adjourned until Friday morning.
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Earlier this week Woolwich Crown Court heard evidence from survivors of the attack and witnesses.
Men who saw Mr Ali fall to the ground said he was alive and talking, with passers by calling an ambulance before the van hit and left victims “splattered all over the place”.
A chilling 999 call that captured the moment of the attack was played to the court, showing survivor Adnan Mohamud relaying Mr Ali’s condition to the operator before his voice was cut off.
Shouting and screaming can be heard in the background, with people calling their loved ones’ names, before Mr Mohamud comes back on to the phone to say: “Someone just came in a big white van and ran over a lot of people…people are dead, he just ran over everyone.”
Mr Ali died of his injuries and nine other people were seriously wounded, with Mr Benaounda saying he could “feel my bones breaking” when the vehicle hit.
Witnesses told the jury Mr Osborne crashed the vehicle into a bollard and got out attempting to flee, but found himself at a dead end and was forced to run back towards the scene.
Survivors claimed that he was “constantly smiling” as he was restrained by the crowd, telling them: “I’ve done my job, you can kill me now.”
Mohammed Mahmoud, the imam of the nearby Muslim Welfare House, said a member of his congregation ran into the mosque and said there had been an attack shortly after midnight.
“As soon as I arrived, I saw bodies left and right,” he told the court.
“I saw Mr Ali on the floor having CPR and I saw the attacker on the floor face-down with two or three people on top of him.”
Mr Mahmoud told the jury around a dozen people were trying to kick and punch Mr Osborne until he approached and told them to get back and call the police, leaving him “unscathed”.
The imam described the atmosphere as “incredibly heated” and told the court he was concerned Mr Osborne would be injured, adding: “There's a rule of law that must be respected and we shouldn't let our emotions and our desire to see vengeance dictate our decisions.”
He was one of several people who then flagged down a passing police van, with officers arresting Mr Osborne and later recording expletive-filled rants on a body-worn camera.
Clips played to the court showed the defendant accusing Muslims of “hunting in packs” and raping white women across the UK, while making a series of racist comments.
While repeatedly referring to Rotherham and grooming, Mr Osborne was also heard attacking Jeremy Corbyn, Lily Allen, the Iraq War and the Labour party, sarcastically repeating the phrase “don't look back in anger” and claiming: “Someone has got to rise up.”
“Sadiq Khan, what's he up to tomorrow, eh?'' he said, before bursting into laughter.
The trial continues.
Dr Patrick Heck found that the pacemaker was implanted almost two-and-a-half years before Mr Ali's death and had never detected or corrected any abnormal activity until the day of his death.
Mr Ali collapsed at 00.14am on 19 June and was run over two minutes later at 00.16am.
The pacemaker did not detect any abnormal activity until 00.35am, when there were four episodes of "non-sustained arrythmia" - most likely when Mr Ali was being given CPR.
At 00.46am, there was another event which may have been caused by defibrillation efforts by paramedics.
Dr Heck found there were no "incapacitating arrythmias" before Mr Ali was run over and all episodes found were generated by external activity on the attack victim.
Prosecutor Jonathan Rees QC says there was "nothing connecting" the arrythmia to Mr Ali's earlier collapse.
Dr Poole says that Mr Ali's collapse could not have been caused by a heart attack but that he could not definitively say what caused him to fall.
Mr Ali was "predisposed" to fall because of his muscular condition, Dr Poole says, and also could have been put off balance by low blood sugar.
Dr Poole says all evidence shows that Mr Ali was alive in the two minutes between collapsing and the van hitting him.
The cause of his death were "multiple injuries", Dr Poole says, which caused acute cardio-respiratory failure.
The court is now having a short break while the defence team speaks with Darren Osborne at the back of the court.
The court is now back in session and hearing written statement by Paul De-Neys, a forensic collision investigator with the Metropolitan Police.
Mr De-Neys fully tested the van including its steering and brakes and concludes that "overall the vehicle was in good condition - there wre no defects present that could by contributory to the collision".
John Hallmark, a forensic collision investigator with the Metropolitan Police, reconstructed the collision using examination of the scene, CCTV and witness statements.
His statement read to the court says the road was dry and had no defects that could have caused or contributed to the collision.
He says Mr Osborne "turned the vehicle left", indicating the movement was deliberate
His report, being read to the court, says CCTV from a bus shows the van being steered to the left and no evidence that the brake was applied as it hit pedestrians.
Mr Hallmark says the van was travelling at an average speed of 16mph and that the pedestrians Mr Osborne hit were "highly visible" and that there was nothing in the road he might have swerved to avoid.
"The Citroen van was intentionally steered left into Whadcoat Street by Mr Osborne," his report concludes.