The killing of an unarmed British soldier on a London street by two Islamists with a meat cleaver and knives was a "callous murder", a court heard as their long-awaited murder trial opened here today.
Michael Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22 - both Britons of Nigerian descent - drove at soldier Lee Rigby before attempting to decapitate him near his Army barracks in Woolwich, south-east London, on May 22, jurors at the Old Bailey court.
Setting out the case, prosecutor Richard Whittam told the jury that the two men had committed a "cowardly and callous" attack on Rigby and had "mutilated his body with a meat cleaver and knives".
The two defendants are also charged with attempting to murder a police officer and conspiracy to murder a police officer. They deny all charges.
The accused were flanked by heavy security as they appeared in a glass-lined dock in the courtroom.
"They both attacked the motionless body of Lee Rigby. He was repeatedly stabbed and Michael Adebolajo made a serious and almost successful attempt to decapitate him with multiple blows to his neck made with the meat cleaver," Whittam said.
"At the same time as Michael Adebolajo used the meat cleaver, Michael Adebowale was using a knife to stab and cut at Lee Rigby's body," he said.
The court also heard how the incident occurred in broad daylight and close to a primary school and children returning from a school visit to a library were turned back by members of the public so they could not see the "awful scene".
Rigby's family members were in the court to hear the opening of the case.
Brown paper was taped over part of the dock where the defendants sat so that they were shielded from the view of the relatives and friends of the victim.
The case was due to open last week but had been delayed by legal argument.
Yesterday, jurors were selected for the trial and told by the judge, Justice Sweeney, to deliver their verdicts based only on the evidence they would hear in court.
"The jurors who try this case must do so impartially, and thus based on only the evidence that those jurors are going to hear in this courtroom and absolutely nothing else," he said.
