The trial of a man accused of carrying out a van attack on Muslims in north London last year has heard that people dragged an injured man out from under a vehicle and tackled its driver, even as they feared another London Bridge-style terror attack was under way.

One witness giving evidence on Wednesday at the trial of Darren Osborne, 48, at Woolwich crown court said the incident in Finsbury Park was a “horrific attack on Muslims” and that he had suffered from nightmares.

Another said there were bodies strewn on the ground after the van hit pedestrians and he had wanted to run, fearing the driver was armed and could try to kill more people, but went back to tackle him.

Giving evidence on Wednesday, the imam of the local charity Muslim Welfare House, Mohammed Mahmoud, told the jury he had protected the man from the crowd because he felt he should face justice.

“I shouted: ‘No one touch him,’ told people to get back and said: ‘We are handing him in unscathed to the police,’” Mahmoud told the jury.

“It was a natural response. He posed no harm to anyone. He was immobilised, he wasn’t a threat and, therefore, he should answer for his crime in a court such as this, which he is doing now, and not in a court in the street.”

Witnesses described a white van slamming into a group of people. “As the van drove into the road, I could hear the engine revving … The van just ploughed the people,” said Mahad Mohamed Ismail in a witness statement read to the jury. “There were people underneath the van … It was revving like the driver had his foot flat down on the accelerator.”

Ismail said that since the attack he had been having nightmares. “I am paranoid when I go out and hear a van revving. I witnessed a horrific attack on Muslims. I feared for my life when that van was coming towards me. Words cannot describe how I felt.”

Osborne denies one charge of murdering Makram Ali and another of attempting to murder other people.

During Wednesday’s hearing, witnesses described seeing Ali collapse and a group of people gather to help him, shortly before a white van hit them. The driver tried to escape but was apprehended by people nearby, the jury heard.

A statement was read to the court from Waleed Salim, who said he and his cousin Hamdi Alfaiq had been hit by a van. “I helped a group of people trying to lift the van, but it was really heavy so they had to drag my cousin out.” Giving evidence in person, Alfaiq said he did not remember being under the vehicle.

The court heard an audio recording of a 999 call by Adnan Mohamud, who initially asked for an ambulance for Ali. A lengthy pause followed, before Mohamud told the call handler: “Someone’s just come and run over a whole lot of people. He ran over a lot of people. A lot of people are dying. He has just run over everyone … people are dying, man.”

In a witness statement read to the court, he said: “I remember [the driver] saying: ‘I have done my job. You can kill me now.’ He was smiling as he said it.” Mohamud said he would never forget the smile on the driver’s face, which had convinced him the incident was no accident.

Another witness, Mohammed Geedi, said he had been on his way to a nearby mosque when the incident happened on 19 June. He told the jury he could see the van’s headlights and was aware of it accelerating and shifting up from first gear to second.

He said he had been knocked to the ground. “I looked at a lot of people splattered all over the place.” After the incident, he said, he helped a group of people restrain the man they believed to be the driver.

Geedi told the jury he saw Ali speaking before the van struck. “He was alive. He looked alive,” he said. Immediately after the impact, he said, he saw tyre marks across Ali’s body and the man’s “tongue was sticking out”.



Geedi said he feared a continuing attack with guns or knives, similar to that at London Bridge, but went back to help.

The jury was also played video footage from the camera worn by one of the first officers on the scene, PC David Jones. The three clips showed Osborne speaking angrily about Muslims, as well as senior Labour figures, in terms similar to those in a letter found in the van.

PC Jones said the remarks had been made unprompted.

The trial continues.