Woolwich Suspect 'Handed Out Radical Leaflets'

One of the two men who are suspected of hacking to death soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich was well-known locally as an Islamist activist.

Michael Adeboloja apparently handed out leaflets promoting radical Islamic ideas in Woolwich High Street.

People who claimed they know him also said he sometimes ran a stall from which he gave out leaflets condemning the Government over the involvement of British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sky's crime correspondent Martin Brunt said: "If that is the case, then it suggests that he is somebody who should at least should have come to the attention of local police.

"There is this whole Government strategy which is supposed to pick up people like him."

One school friend said he remembered him as a "nice guy" and was shocked to discover he had been implicated in the attack.

Simon Collings, 25, from Romford, east London, said: "He was just a nice guy really, he didn't do anything bad to anyone, he wasn't a bully or anything.

"If anything, I would have expected him to go the hip-hop route than the Muslim route. Just your standard east London kid."

In a video filmed at the scene, Adeboloja, who is holding a bloodied meat cleaver, can be heard saying: "We must fight them as they fight us. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

"I apologise that women have had to witness this today, but in our land our women have to see the same. You people will never be safe. Remove your Government, they don't care about you."

In another clip, he can be heard adding: "You think David Cameron is going to get caught in the street when we start bussin' our guns? You think politicians are going to die?

"No it's going to be the average guy, like you, and your children.

"So get rid of them. Tell them to bring our troops back so you can all live in peace."

Mr Collings said it was "weird" seeing his one-time friend on television after the attack, adding: "What he did just defies belief."

Adeboloja and another suspect are currently in hospital under armed guard after being shot by police at the scene in Woolwich.

One of them is currently at King's College Hospital in Camberwell, sources say.

Both were apparently known to the security services.

Adeboloja, a 28-year-old of Nigerian descent, was born in Lambeth in south London and appears to have grown up in east London.

He was a student at Greenwich University who lived on the campus at a couple of addresses between 2004 and 2005.

He was at some stage, it appears, living with members of his family - his mother and perhaps his stepfather, in an area of Lincoln.

That property is believed to have been searched by police on Thursday.

There were also reports that addresses in Greenwich were being searched by officers.

Police are now waiting to speak to the murder suspects.