A man accused of carrying out a van attack on Muslim worshippers in Finsbury Park last year had earlier hoped to kill senior Labour party figures including Jeremy Corbyn, he has told a jury.

Giving evidence on Tuesday, Darren Osborne claimed he picked up another man, whom he named only as “Dave”, as he drove round north London, having failed to attack another target. He alleged it was that other man at the wheel when the attack which killed Makram Ali, 51, took place on 19 June.

Osborne told the court that he, Dave and a man he named as “Terry Jones” initially discussed travelling to Rochdale to attack a Labour politician, whom he named as “Hussain” and who he said had given a character reference on behalf of one of the men convicted of grooming children there.

The target changed to last year’s Quds day march in central London because they could cause more casualties there, he said, adding that they also expected Corbyn to be in attendance as well.



Asked by the prosecutor, Jonathan Rees, whether he had planned to kill the Labour leader, Osborne told the jury: “Oh yeah, it would be one less terrorist [on] our streets.” He added: “And if Sadiq Khan [the London mayor] had been there it would have been even better. It would have been like winning the lottery.” He also said Hussain remained a target.

When the Quds day plot failed, Osborne told the jury he drove round London and followed instructions to meet Dave and Terry in Finsbury Park because it was Corbyn’s constituency. Osborne said he expected to go for a drink with them there but instead Dave jumped in the moving van and carried out the attack. By that point, he said, he had lost his nerve and no longer wanted to attack anyone.

The defendant said he was unable to explain to the jury why a statement of his intended defence, served on the prosecution as it prepared to finish its case last Friday, differed from a supplementary statement he produced on Tuesday afternoon.

In the first, Rees told the jury, Osborne said he knew about Dave’s claimed intention to carry out the attack in Finsbury Park and supported him in it. In the second, Osborne said he neither had knowledge of Dave’s intention, nor did he support it. Each statement, Rees told the jury, was signed by Osborne.

Osborne said he was in the passenger’s side footwell when the incident took place but that he jumped out of the driver’s side after it. Asked why, he said he had no explanation. Similarly, he said he was unable to explain how the man he said was driving got away.



The defendant denied Rees’s suggestion that he had invented the accounts once he realised the strength of the prosecution’s case against him.

Osborne denied Rees’s suggestion that he was “playing it for laughs”, saying: “I’m at a loss why you would draw that conclusion.” Asked if he would support further attacks, he said: “Something needs to be done, this can’t carry on.”

Earlier Woolwich crown court heard evidence that Osborne had acted alone. In an interview conducted in hospital after he had medical examinations, the court heard that Osborne told a police officer: “I am flying solo, mate.” In an earlier exchange, it was said, he had told another officer he was the driver of the van.



The jury heard that during an initial police interview conducted in University College hospital immediately after the incident Osborne told PC Paul Dring no one else had been involved.

The jury was also shown footage of an earlier exchange with PC David Jones in which Osborne said: “I lost control of the van ... lost control, man.” According to the film, which was shot on PC Jones’s body-worn camera, Osborne answered “yeah” to the officer’s question: “Were you the driver, were you?”

In witness statements read to the court Ibrahim Ikar and Abdul Matin Chowdhury said the man who jumped out of the van was the driver.

The prosecution concluded its case on Tuesday. Osborne denies the murder of Ali and the attempted murders of other people during the incident.