FINSBURY Park mosque attack suspect Darren Osborne is believed to have hired the van involved several days before driving to London.
Neighbours of Darren Osborne, 47, said that he parked the van in a different street to his family home in a Cardiff suburb. He was seen telephoning from the van late at night, and one neighbour said he noticed a man sleeping in the vehicle and reported it to the police.
Further details also emerged of Osborne’s erratic behaviour in the days and weeks before the attack. Some neighbours said he had slept rough in the woods behind the semi-detached house where his partner and four children lived.
Osborne’s family said he had been “troubled for a long time”. He was arrested after worshippers were targeted by a man driving a van near Finsbury Park Mosque in north London early on Monday.
Three people remain in critical care and another four are still receiving hospital treatment for injuries sustained in Monday’s terrorist attack in Finsbury Park, NHS England has said.
Nine people were taken to hospital after a man believed to be Osborne, from Cardiff, drove into worshippers near the Muslim Welfare House mosque.
Makram Ali, 51, who had collapsed before the attack, died at the scene. Police are still investigating whether his death was linked to the incident. Many of the injured had rushed to help him.
Neighbours of the father-of-four suspect from Cardiff said they were shocked when they saw pictures of him being arrested, but one revealed he had called her Muslim children “inbred” and another said he phoned the police after spotting a man he believes was Osborne sleeping in a van on Saturday night.
In a statement, Osborne’s family said: “We are massively shocked. It’s unbelievable. It still hasn’t really sunk in. We are devastated for the families. Our hearts go out to the people who have been injured.”
They said Osborne was “not a racist” and had never expressed racist views, adding: “It’s madness. It is obviously sheer madness.”
Witnesses described hearing the driver, who was detained by members of the public before police arrived, shout: “I am going to kill Muslims.”
Osborne was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder but Scotland Yard said he was later arrested for the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism, including murder and attempted murder.
Images of the van showed it was rented from Pontyclun Van Hire, near Cardiff.
One of Osborne’s neighbours, Edward Gardiner, 28, a self-employed builder and plumber, called police at 12.27am on Sunday morning to report concerns for the welfare of a man sitting in a Pontyclun Van Hire vehicle.
The man, who smelt of alcohol, was sleeping across the front three seats of the van with the door open, close to Osborne’s home.
“I called police because I saw a random van in my cul-de-sac with someone drunk in it and the door open,” said Gardiner, who lives in a nearby property. “I could smell alcohol on him and he was grunting and groaning.”
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