An unemployed father of four accused of carrying out the Finsbury Park terror attack became "brainwashed" and a "ticking time bomb” obsessed with Muslims after watching a BBC drama about the Rochdale grooming scandal, a court has heard.

Darren Osborne, 48, from Cardiff became convinced all Muslims were rapists and belonged to paedophile gangs after watching the hard hitting Three Girls drama, which was broadcast on BBC One last May.

On June 17 last year - in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Westminster, Manchester and London Bridge - Mr Osborne hired a van from a firm near his home in south Wales.

Two days later, at just after midnight, he allegedly ploughed into a group of Muslims who had just left a mosque in Finsbury Park, north London, killing 51-year-old Makram Ali and injuring several others, some of them seriously.

At the opening of his trial at Woolwich Crown Court, Jonathan Rees QC, prosecuting said: “The evidence establishes that the defendant was trying to kill as many of the group as possible.”

Shortly after the deadly attack, a note was found in the van, which the court was told documented his extremist views towards members of the Muslim faith and also a number of leading politicians and public figures.