Yahoo News Lee Rigby killer Michael Adebowale admits assaulting nurse at Broadmoor Hospital
Michael Adebowale, one of the killers of soldier Lee Rigby, has pleaded guilty at Reading Crown Court to assaulting a nurse at Broadmoor Hospital after he told him to turn the volume down on his TV.
Adebowale was given a further eight-month prison sentence which will be served after his 45-year minimum term for the murder of the Fusilier in Woolwich in 2013.
He is currently serving his sentence at Broadmoor psychiatric hospital and is expected to stay there for the next five to ten years to be treated for chronic paranoid schizophrenia.
Mr Justice Jay said: “There is only one previous conviction but it is a significant one.”
Fusilier Lee Rigby was murdered by Islamist extremists Adebowale and Michael Adebolajo in May 2013.
The 25-year-old serviceman was walking near his barracks in Woolwich, south-east London, when the pair rammed him with a car before attempting to hack off his head with knives.
Rigby, a father of one, died as a result of multiple cut and stab wounds after the attack fuelled by Adebowale and Adebolajo’s extremist beliefs described as a “betrayal of Islam” at their murder trial in 2014.
The killers were jailed at the Old Bailey in February 2014.
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Adebowale, who has changed his name by deed poll to Ismaail Kuti, appeared via video link from the secure hospital for the hearing.
Sarah Whitehouse QC, prosecuting, said that Adebowale punched the nurse in the jaw during the incident in a day room of the hospital
Ms Whitehouse said the attack was triggered after Adebowale was asked to turn down the volume of a television he was playing music through. Adebowale was “plainly upset and annoyed” by the request.
CCTV footage shown in court showed Adebowale approaching Jason Taplin while he was doing paperwork before punching him and knocking him to the ground.
Sasha Wass QC, mitigating, told the court Adebowale admitted hitting Mr Taplin when frustrated.
Ms Wass added that Adebowale suffers from “chronic paranoid schizophrenia” and was hearing voices telling him to attack Mr Taplin before the incident.
She said: “He is clearly unwell, he clearly had a lapse in self control and he regained his self control and he immediately showed his remorse by writing a letter to Mr Taplin.
“His medication was not sufficient to deal with the psychotic state he experienced on July 20 of last year and as a result of that state he administered the blow.”
Mr Justice Jay said his sentencing decision will not significantly affect the 28-year-old’s immediate future.
“He has got another 39 or 40 years to go and may in fact never leave Broadmoor,” he said.
