BREAKING: London Attacker is Darren Osborne father-of-four
The attacker has been named locally as father-of-four Darren Osborne, from Weston-Super-Mare in Somerset, the Daily Mirror reported.
Friends said Osborne had grown up in North Somerset but currently lived in Cardiff with his partner and children.
Police have reportedly been conducting searches on properties in the Cardiff area.
Police were tonight searching the suburban home of Darren Osborne, 47, for clues to his attack. Osborne – who grew up in the seaside town of Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, before moving to Pentwyn, Cardiff – is believed to have hired the van for £80-a-day.
Police swooped on Osborne’s terraced home in Glyn Rhosyn, Pentwyn, where neighbours were stunned by the attack. Neighbours told of their shock after seeing pictures of Osborne being arrested by police.
Dave Ashford, 52, said: “Someone called me and said it was him and I said ‘It can’t be’. Then I saw the picture on the news and said ‘S***, it’s him’.”
Pauline Tibbs, 48, said: “The police have been back and forwarth here all day. It’s a terrible shock. “I’ve seen him walking in the street but never spoken to him. He seemed normal enough.”
He has lived here a couple of years and kept himself to himself.” Another neighbour said: “He had lived on the estate for a few years…this is really surprising.”
And another man who lived near Osborne’s home said: “I arrived home from work to find the street crawling with police – it’s a complete shock.”
Osborne is believed to have hired the van from Pontyclun Van Hire, 15 miles away from his home in the Welsh capital.
Live Updates:
This racist bastard ran over innocent civilians on their way home from taraweh #FinsburyPark pic.twitter.com/YHvsVZHqIY
— Didier (@Known_As_H) June 18, 2017
I’ve counted 7 injured. 3 are seriously injured. Subhanallah. I can’t believe what I witnessed tonight. # #FinsburyPark
— Didier (@Known_As_H) June 18, 2017
Just to confirm this was done by a coward who had absolutely no right to target these innocent people. #FinsburyPark pic.twitter.com/vBJyEa7T8Z
— Didier (@Known_As_H) June 19, 2017
Armed police inspecting the scums vehicle almost an hour after his disgusting and inhuman act against innocent civilians. #FinsburyPark pic.twitter.com/9H0c0xWDfS
— Didier (@Known_As_H) June 19, 2017
More than ten pedestrians were hit by a van which veered onto a pavement near a renowned north London mosque late last night, according to reports.
Several people were reportedly hurt after the van ploughed into a crowd outside Finsbury Park Mosque, where hate cleric Abu Hamza once preached, as they finished Ramadan evening prayers called taraweeh.Â
Eyewitnesses reported seeing bystanders wrestle the suspect to the floor and pin him down until officers arrived.Â
9:17 PM
Sources are saying a clean-shaven white man was arrested by police
9:27 PM
Hillary Briffa witnessed aftermath “People think it’s an act of White Supremacy”
9:32 PM
Muslim Council of Britain takes to Twitter:
BREAKING: We have been informed that a van has run over worshippers as they left #FinsburyPark Mosque. Our prayers are with the victims. https://t.co/FSE5m3bFpo
— MCB (@MuslimCouncil) June 19, 2017
More Raw Footage:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGQAIEopQuw&w=560&h=315]
23:12 PM
Excerpt from The Guardian:
Finsbury Park is a typically diverse London suburb situated a few kilometres north of the city centre. It’s home to a wide variety of nationalities and although it is undergoing a lot of change through gentrification (a theatre has opened in recent years, Pret a Manger is on the way etc), it retains a strong working-class flavour and is characterised by people from all walks of life.
It’s perhaps best known as home Arsenal football club. On match days, the streets – and pubs – are surrendered to thousands of fans who are disgorged from the Tube and railway station to walk down the road to the Emirates stadium.
It’s also the centre of London’s Algerian population, with the dense pocket of coffee shops and restaurants at the top of Blackstock Road known as “Little Algiersâ€, and before that was a popular landing point for Irish immigrants.
Finsbury Park is also known as home to the mosque linked to the radical cleric Abu Hamza. The mosque’s current leaders have sought to purge its extremist past and have it removed from black lists.
