Michael Adebolajo (left) and Michael Adebowale will be sentenced next year (Picture: AFP/Getty)

The brother of convicted killer Michael Adebolajo has claimed the murder of Lee Rigby was justified by Islam.

Jeremiah Adebolajo, who is also a Muslim, told the Guardian newspaper he was proud of his brother in an interview conducted just before Adebolajo, 29, and Michael Adebowale, 22, were found guilty of murdering the soldier at the Old Bailey yesterday.

‘In that he is a Muslim and that he sought to please Allah by fighting in his cause and dying in his cause, then to this extent yes [it was justified],’ he said.

Victim: Lee Rigby (Picture: MoD/PA)

The 27-year-old added the murder of Drummer Rigby near Woolwich Barracks on May 22 was in part due to Western foreign policy – but stopped short of blaming MI5, saying they had actually tried to recruit his brother.




But the parents of the brothers did not share their views and spoke out against the murder.

Adebowale’s mother Juliet, 52, also condemned the attack.

She told the Sun: ‘He had known Adebolajo since they went on a march at the end of March.

‘I still can’t comprehend what happened, what got into his head. The extremism is tearing us apart.’

The two killers face life in prison and will be sentenced in the new year.