Lee Rigby murder report to look into M15 modus operandi‏

A government report into the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby is set to criticise MI5 over its monitoring of one of the killers.

The Intelligence and Security Committee’s (ISC) report is due to be published on Tuesday. In its findings, the committee will detail exactly what MI5 knew about Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale prior to the attack, but it is not expected to condemn any one individual for the May 2013 murder.

The committee is alleged to have finalised its report without speaking to people close to Adebolajo who believe he was repeatedly contacted by the security services before the attack. Several potential witnesses claim not to have been contacted by the ISC, including Adebolajo’s lawyer, his brother, a close friend, and a campaigning group called CAGE he registered a complaint with. He reported that he was pressured by the security services to become an informant after being arrested in Kenya in 2010 for attempting to join extremists in Somalia.

Those who knew Adebolajo say MI5’s conduct in the years prior to Rigby’s murder could offer an insight into his transformation from extremist to terrorist murderer.

Speaking to The Guardian, the chairman of the ISC Malcolm Rifkind said: “It has been public knowledge for the last year that we have been conducting this inquiry. If anyone is complaining that they have not been involved, they had every opportunity to send evidence to the inquiry. If they did not, that has to be their responsibility.”

A spokeswoman for CAGE said: “The rigour of the report is questionable: why weren’t Adebolajo’s family questioned? Why wasn’t CAGE, who knew the details of his mistreatment in Kenya with alleged British complicity, consulted? This one-sided appeal for yet more state power is hardly worth the paper it is written on and should be rejected.”

 Clarissa Waldron