DPA/London

Two extremists were yesterday sentenced to life in prison for last year’s brutal murder of Lee Rigby, a British soldier, in broad daylight on a London street.
Judge Nigel Sweeney said the behaviour of Michael Adebolajo, 29, and Michael Adebowale, 22, was “sickening and pitiless”.
“You decided, between you, and in order to advance your extremist cause, to murder a soldier in public in broad daylight and to do so in a way that would generate maximum media coverage,” judge Nigel Sweeney told the court. “Sentence for murder is mandatory - it must be one of life imprisonment,” he said.
The judge handed Adebolajo a whole-life tariff, meaning he can only ever be released at the discretion of the home secretary in exceptional circumstances. Adebowale was given a life sentence with a minimum of 45 years before he can apply for parole.
Both men had to be removed from the court after they began shouting abuse at the judge as he began his sentencing remarks. They were pinned to the ground by security guards and taken back to their cells.
The pair ran Rigby over with their car near his barracks in Woolwich on May 22, breaking his back.
They then dragged the 25-year-old’s body into the middle of the road.
In front of shocked bystanders, Adebolajo then attempted to decapitate him while Adebowale stabbed him repeatedly. They were convicted of his murder in December.
Judge Sweeney had postponed their sentencing to await a ruling by the Court of Appeal on whether British whole-life sentences were compatible with European human rights law.
That ruling came last week, and decreed that the sentences were “wholly compatible” with the European Convention on Human Rights.
Rigby’s killing shocked the country, not least because Adebolajo gave an impromptu “press conference” to bystanders afterwards.
In clips posted on the internet, he could be seen gripping a bloodied meat cleaver and knives, and apologising that women had had to witness the killing.
In a statement read out to the court before sentencing was passed, Rigby’s wife Rebecca said the death of the off-duty soldier, who had served in Afghanistan, Cyprus and Germany, was all the more shocking for having taken place in Britain. “We both talked about the dangers of Afghanistan and we braced ourselves for it,” said Rebecca Rigby. “You do not expect to see this on the streets of the United Kingdom.
“My son will grow up and see images of his dad that no son should have to endure and there’s nothing I can do to change this,” she said of their two-year old son.
Dozens of protesters from the far-right British National Party and the English Defence League had gathered outside the court to demand the death penalty be restored. Police said three people were arrested.