Lee Rigby killers Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale jailed

Fusilier Lee Rigby’s murderers Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale have been given a whole-life term and a minimum of 45 years in jail, respectively.

Michael Adebolajo, 29, and Michael Adebowale, 22, drove into Lee Rigby with a car before hacking him to death in Woolwich, south-east London, in May last year.

The pair were absent during sentencing after a scuffle in the dock.

The judge began to sentence the men they started shouting and scuffling with court security guards. They had to be forced to the ground and were removed from court.

Fusilier Lee Rigby’s family sobbed as Michael Adebolajo shouted “allahu akbar”, and Michael Adebowale called out “that’s a lie” as the judge told them their extremist views were “a betrayal of Islam”.

Sentencing the killers in their absence, the judge said they had been convicted on “overwhelming” evidence of the “barbaric” murder of Lee Rigby.

The British Muslim converts had “butchered” the 25-year-old soldier, he said.

Michael Adebolajo was the leader of the “joint enterprise”, the judge said, but Michael Adebowale played his part “enthusiastically”.

The judge said the pair carried out the murder “in a way that would generate maximum media coverage”.

Fusilier Lee Rigby, from Middleton, Greater Manchester, was murdered as he returned to his barracks in Woolwich, south-east London on May 22, 2013. He died of multiple cut and stab wounds.

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