An unemployed "loner" who ploughed a van into a group of Muslims after becoming radicalised by far-right material within weeks has been jailed for life and told to serve at least 43 years. Darren Osborne deliberately mowed down worshippers outside two mosques in Finsbury Park, north London, shortly after 12.15am on June 19 last year, killing 51-year-old Makram Ali and injuring 12 others. A jury of eight women and four men took one hour to convict the father of four, who was seen smiling and blowing a kiss to angry bystanders in the moments after the terror attack, of murder and attempted murder. Osborne stood with his hands crossed in front of him as sentence was passed by Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb. She told him: "This was a terrorist attack. You intended to kill. Your mindset became one of malevolent hatred. "In short you allowed your mind to be poisoned by those who claimed to be leaders." Osborne is likely to die in jail after being jailed for a minimum of 43 years Credit: PA Of his murderous crime in targeting Muslim worshippers, she said: "Many of them were wearing distinctive Muslim dress. "You had found your target. You accelerated the van towards them intending to kill as many people as you could." After the 48-year-old was effectively told he would die in jail, he said: "God bless you, thank you." The judge also paid tribute to Mohammed Mahmoud, the Imam from the local Muslim Welfare House, who prevented the angry crowd from harming Osborne after the attack. She said: "This was a demonstration of true leadership. His behaviour throws into sharp relief the bile spewed out on-line from those who aspire to lead the haters. "Not because his exhortation to desist from punishing the perpetrator was remarkable but because he had the strength of character to do the right thing under pressure. "He chose to respond to evil with good. His response should be everyone’s response whether it is to the evil of child grooming and abuse in Rochdale or the evil of terrorist atrocities in our cities." Video: Moment Darren Osborne ploughed into worshippers Prosecutor Jonathan Rees QC read a victim impact statement from Ruzina Akhtar, the daughter of Mr Ali, to the court. Mrs Akhtar: "I have suffered with recurring nightmares. The scene of the incident is near to our house. We walk past this this most days and are constantly reminded." Part way through the trial Osborne, from Cardiff, suddenly denied he had been driving the van at the moment of impact, an 11th hour defence the prosecution dismissed as being conjured "out of thin air". The attacker said he had no idea Dave - one of his two made-up accomplices - intended to smash into a group of pedestrians, and believed they were on their way to a pub to meet a third co-conspirator, Terry. Jurors agreed with prosecutors who dubbed his increasingly improbable version of events a "total fabrication" and "frankly absurd". The moment Darren Osborne was arrested after being detained by a crowd Credit: Sky News During the nine-day trial, Osborne told the court he had wanted to kill senior Labour figures including leader Jeremy Corbyn and London Mayor Sadiq Khan. He had also plotted to murder Rochdale Labour councillor Aftab Hussain but called it off because he wanted "more casualties". Finsbury Park van attack - How it unfolded A note written by Osborne - which complained about terrorism, the Rotherham child sex scandal, and branded Mr Corbyn a "terrorist sympathiser" - was found in the cab of the van. Osborne, described in court as a "total loner", had become obsessed with Muslims after watching BBC drama Three Girls in May last year and was angered by what he deemed as inaction following a string of UK terror attacks, his estranged partner Sarah Andrews said. A 30-year criminal record for 102 offences Mr Rees said Osborne had a criminal record spanning between 1984 and 2014, and had appeared before the court on 33 occasions for 102 offences. He said he had a history of drugs, theft, fraud, burglary and "kindred offences", as well as nine offences "against the person" including assault. He first appeared in court aged 15 and in 2006, aged 36, was sentenced to 24 months in prison for wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Most recently in 2014, aged 44, he was convicted of charges of theft, attempted theft and shoplifting in South Wales. Victim 'lived without enemies', daughter tells court Mr Ali left behind a wife, six children and two grandchildren. His two sons are 13 and 14 years old, the court heard. "They will now grow up without the help and support of their father," his daughter Ruzina Akhtar said. "Without his guidance and assistance in life." Mrs Akhtar's son - Mr Ali's grandson - has also been affected since the attack. She said: "My son is always asking where his grandad is and why he cannot go to the park every day to play with him any more. This is heartbreaking." Makram Ali died after being knocked down by the van in Finsbury Park Credit: Metropolitan Police/PA Mrs Akhtar said her father will "never be forgotten", saying: "His laugh will echo the walls of our home and his smile will be reflected in our eyes. His memory will be in our conversation." He "lived without any enemies" and never hurt or upset anyone, she said. She added: "His life was taken in a cruel way by a very narrow minded, heartless being." Mrs Akhtar added : "My mum is scared to go out by herself in case she is attacked because she is visibly a Muslim who wears a headscarf." Theresa May urges internet companies to act 'further and faster' over terrorist content Downing Street said Prime Minister Theresa May wanted internet companies to go "further and faster" to remove extremist or terrorist content. A Number 10 spokesman said Osborne "committed an appalling and cowardly attack, killing one man and injuring many others", adding: "He has now been brought to justice for this horrific act." The spokesman added: "The internet cannot be used as a safe space for terrorists or those who want to spread terrorist or extremist content. "We recognise there has been some progress in this area but the Prime Minister has made clear that internet companies need to go further and faster in removing this sort of content from their websites." Asked if the Prime Minister regarded Osborne as a terrorist, the spokesman said he had not spoken to Mrs May but added: "I would say this was an act of terrorism." Killer radicalised in weeks after seeing BBC film On the evening of May 16 last year, Darren Osborne, an unemployed father of four from Cardiff, sat down on his sofa to watch a BBC drama about the Rochdale grooming scandal. Such was his outrage at the events depicted in Three Girls, that he turned to the internet for more information. Within three weeks, the extreme Right-wing material he found online had radicalised him to such an extent that he deliberately drove a hire van into a group of Muslims, killing one and injuring 12 others. Darren Osborne in the back of a police van after his arrest Credit: Metropolitan Police/PA The speed at which he became brainwashed by inflammatory material he found on social media sites has left counter-terrorism experts deeply concerned and has led to calls for technology giants to do more to remove it. Before last summer, Osborne had never been known to express extreme views on religion or race. A barmaid in his former local pub said: "He was a notorious bad boy, involved in drugs and fighting. People were scared of him. But I don't remember any racism." Finsbury Park mosque tragedy in pictures Ellis Osborne, 26, his nephew, who is mixed race, also said he had never heard his uncle express extreme views. But all that changed in early June last year when he began looking at social media and other websites linked to Tommy Robinson, the former leader of the English Defence League, and Jayda Fransen and Paul Golding, the cofounders of Britain First. When police examined his digital devices in the wake of the attack, they found he had spent hours searching for extremist material, which fuelled his growing hatred for Muslims. Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen Credit: Nick Ansell /PA In the weeks before the attack, he followed Mr Robinson and Ms Fransen on Twitter and Facebook and received direct messages from their accounts. Osborne 'developed warped and twisted view' Commander Dean Haydon, the head of Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism unit, said while the BBC drama had proved to be the catalyst, Osborne's rapid radicalisation had clearly been the result of the inflammatory material he had seen online. Mr Haydon said: "This case demonstrates to me that individuals can be radicalised very quickly, within three or four weeks. We have to look at the role of the internet and radicalisation. It does demonstrate the speed of radicalisation ... it's a concern for us. "Those around him described how he became obsessed with material that he started looking at online. He was researching high-profile individuals, such as Mr Robinson and Ms Fransen, as well as extreme Right-wing groups that were not proscribed. "It was clear that, in the space of only a few weeks, he had developed a warped and twisted view, to such a degree that he was prepared to plan and carry out an attack," Mr Haydon said. "I'm not going to call Tommy Robinson a radicaliser, but there is material out there linked to some of the groups connected to him that quite clearly has been an influence in this case." He said while much of the "unpalatable" extreme Right-wing material available online was not illegal, social media companies could do more to proactively remove it.
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