Woolwich London terror attack?

[David Guyatt]

I don't imagine anything interesting will emerge from the trial, but it will be worth watching just in case...

Woolwich murder trial: crown to begin setting out case

Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale are accused of murdering soldier Lee Rigby near barracks in south-east London

• Vikram Dodd and Josh Halliday
  
• The Guardian, Thursday 28 November 2013 19.05 GMT
  

Lee Rigby was killed in Woolwich as he returned from a shift working at the Tower of London. Photograph: MoD/Crown Copy/PA

The crown will on Friday begin detailing its case against two men accused of murdering the soldier Lee Rigby.
Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale are accused of inflicting multiple stab wounds on the soldier in a London street, after he had been run down by a car.
They deny murder and the trial at the Old Bailey is scheduled to finish before Christmas.
Rigby, 25, was killed in broad daylight in a street close to Woolwich military barracks in south-east London.
Adebolajo, 28, and Adebowale, 22, are accused of murdering Rigby, who served in the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, as he walked back to his barracks on 22 May.
The accused have asked to be addressed in court by their adopted Islamic names. Adebolajo, from Romford, Essex, wishes to be called Mujaahid Abu Hamza. Adebowale, from Greenwich, south-east London, wants to be addressed as Ismail Ibn Abdullah.
On Thursday, a jury was selected for the trial and warned by the judge, Mr Justice Sweeney, to deliver their verdicts based only on the evidence they will hear in court. A panel of potential jurors was handed four questions and told by Sweeney that they may be excluded from the case if they answered yes to any of them.
They were asked: "Have you or any person with whom you have regular and close personal contact been in the vicinity of a terrorist incident?
"Have you or any person with whom you have regular and close personal contact been employed in the armed forces, police force, prison service, security services or Crown Prosecution Service?
"Is there any reason arising from beliefs, past or present occupation, or any other matter that you feel may inhibit the essential requirement to return impartial verdicts according to the evidence in this trial? In particular, do you or any member of your family or a relative or close friend hold political or religious views of such strength that they might materially influence your consideration of the case?
"Is there some other compelling reason requiring you to be excused?"
The judge said: "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."
Prosecutor Richard Whittam QC will begin by outlining the crown's case against the two men, who are also charged with conspiracy to murder and the attempted murder of police officers who arrived at the scene of the attack. The men are also charged with having a gun, a 9.4mm Dutch calibre KNIL Model 91 revolver. The indictment against the accused says they had the gun "with intent by means thereof to cause a person to believe that unlawful violence would be used against him or another person".
At the time of the attack, Rigby was attached to the regimental recruiting team and was on his way back to barracks from a shift working at the Tower of London.
Rigby, from Middleton, Greater Manchester, who had split from his wife, was the father of a two-year-old boy.
The opening of the case, which was due to start last week, has been delayed by legal argument.
In pre-trial hearings the two accused appeared in the dock together, separated by security guards. They spoke only to confirm their names.