Finsbury Park attack suspect contacted by ‘Far-right’

By Muhammad Mussa

LONDON (AA) - A man who is in court for killing a Muslim man after ramming his van into a crowd of worshipers in front of a London mosque last year is understood to have been contacted by far-right groups prior to the terrorist attack.

Darren Osbourne, 48, received a message on Twitter from Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of far-right Britain First party, prosecutors said, according to reports on BBC.

He searched for her online in the aftermath of the London Bridge attack on June 3, last year, in which three assailants in a truck ran over pedestrians and stabbed them leaving eight people dead.

Osbourne is accused of ramming his rented van into worshipers in Finsbury Park, North London on June 19, last year in an Islamophobic attack, killing one man and injuring many others.

The prosecution has been analyzing Osbourne’s online activity before the attack in which Makram Ali, 51, was killed.

Osbourne, it has been alleged, had also received a message from a Twitter account run by Tommy Robinson, former head of far-right English Defence League movement, the reports added.

The message called for demonstrators to "stand up and say no more" to extremism.

The jury was also told about Osbourne’s behavior two days prior to the attack in a pub near Cardiff.

Army soldier Callum Spence told the prosecution that he heard Osbourne talking aggressively about Muslims.

"He was pretty much mumbling, but I heard him say: 'All our families are going to be Muslim. They are all going to be terrorists.' Things like that," Spence said, according to BBC.

Osbourne was escorted out of the pub when he said: "I'm going to take things into my own hands."

The hearing for the trial which began on Monday resumed Tuesday.