Reuters

London

Two men tried to behead a soldier in a “barbarous” killing on a London street, hacking at his body “like a butcher attacking a joint of meat” after running him over, a court was told yesterday.

Michael Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22, dragged the lifeless body of Fusilier Lee Rigby, a veteran of the Afghan War, into the middle of the street so horrified members of the public could see what they had done, prosecutor Richard Whittam said at the start of the men’s trial.

They deny what Whittam called a “cowardly and callous murder” by knocking Rigby down with a car as he crossed a street in Woolwich, southeast London, on the afternoon of May 22 before setting upon his unconscious body with a meat cleaver and knives.

“He was repeatedly stabbed and it appears it was Michael Adebolajo who made a serious and almost successful attempt to decapitate Lee Rigby with multiple blows to his neck made with the meat cleaver,” Whittam said.

“They had committed a cowardly and callous murder by deliberately attacking an unarmed man in civilian clothes from behind using a vehicle as a weapon,” he added. The jury of eight women and four men was told Adebolajo had bought a set of five knives and a sharpener the day before.

Whittam said it appeared he had picked up Adebowale on the morning of the killing. The court fell silent as the jury were shown closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of the moment the Vauxhall Tigra car drove at Rigby.

There were gasps in the courtroom as his body was thrown onto the car’s windscreen. Rigby’s family were among those watching, some close to tears.

Earlier, the court was shown CCTV footage of Rigby, who held a recruiting post and sometimes worked at the Tower of London, walking through Woolwich where his barracks was based. He was wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with “Help for Heroes”, a military charity, and was carrying a camouflage-patterned rucksack.

Whittam told the court that Amanda Bailey had witnessed the car accelerate into Rigby before carrying him down the road and crashing into a road sign.

The driver then got out carrying the cleaver. “He knelt down by Lee Rigby and took hold of his hair. He then repeatedly hacked at the right side of his neck just below the jawline,” Whittam said.

“He was using considerable force, bringing his hand into the air each time before he struck.”

Bailey saw him hack nine times at Rigby’s neck, Whittam said.

Witnesses Gary Perkins and Gill Hucks called it a “horrific frenzied attack”, he added. “He (Perkins) saw Michael Adebolajo sawing at the neck of Lee Rigby with a machete and the other man trying to cut bits of the body by hacking away at it,” Whittam said. “He described the actions as being like a butcher attacking a joint of meat.”

Whittam said all witnesses had reported that Rigby appeared to be unconscious before the knife attack took place.

The jury were told of the bravery of passers-by including one woman who stroked Rigby’s lifeless body and another who talked to Adebolajo, despite him holding the cleaver and with his hands covered in blood.

The trial is expected to last three weeks.

Energy firms not told
to freeze prices: govt

Guardian News and Media

London

owning Street is not calling on the Big Six gas and electricity companies to freeze prices until after the next election, David Cameron’s official spokesman has said.

The No 10 aide dismissed a report saying that Ed Davey, the energy secretary, had written to firms asking them not to raise prices until mid-2015, barring a rise in international fuel prices.

The BBC reported that energy companies were under the impression that they had been asked to keep down prices if the government cuts green levies on energy bills.

Downing Street said no such request had been made, but did not deny that ministers might have suggested to firms that they could afford to hold down bills in exchange for cuts to green charges.

“The story is utterly misleading. The government has not asked for a price freeze. People should wait for us to announce our plans,” the spokesman said.

According to the BBC, Davey made the request as part of negotiations over government plans to “roll back” green levies on energy bills.

Quoting industry figures, it said one energy company was prepared to make the commitment barring any increase in wholesale costs of fuel, while another did not believe it was possible while other costs were rising.

Ministers are looking to take around £50 off bills by slowing down a programme to cut energy usage for the most vulnerable households called the Energy Company Obligation (Eco) and moving the cost of another scheme into general taxation.

It comes as Cameron is under pressure over Labour’s pledge to freeze energy prices from 2015 and the rising cost of living.

However, the energy companies deny they are responsible for rising bills, blaming international fuel prices for the rises that have led bills to hit a record high of more than £1,300 a year.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Angela Knight, chief executive of industry group Energy UK, said the sector was already very competitive.

“You’re talking about retailers who operate in a pretty competitive market,” she said. “There is some very significant choice, and there is some very significant switching. One of the issues here is that that choice is something people do need to look at and concentrate on.

“What you’ve got now is an increasing number of suppliers, you’re seeing an increasing number of people switching, you’re seeing an increasing number of competitive offers. So it’s actually happening there on the ground.”

Speaking to BBC News, Cameron stressed the government’s focus on trying to lower energy prices by “increasing competition and rolling back the costs of some of the levies on people’s bills”, rather than a price freeze.

“I said that’s what we were going to do. That is what we’re going to do, and I think that’s a very positive step forward,” he said.