Drunk man who vandalised memorial for murdered Lee Rigby is jailed

A man has been jailed after he drunkenly vandalised a memorial for murdered soldier Lee Rigby.

Said Aitabbou, 58, defaced the memorial tree which sits just metres away from where the soldier was run over and attacked by extremists.

Witnesses saw Aitabbou ripping up flowers, smashing plant pots, and throwing poppy wreaths laid at the tree in Woolwich, southeast London.

Police were called to the scene and he was arrested at around 1pm on Sunday, July 28.

Aitabbou, of Charlton, south east London, later pleaded guilty to criminal damage – and was sentenced to four months in prison.

Deputy District Judge Balmain explained during the hearing at Bexley Magistrates’ Court that prison time was necessary because the defendant was drunk, not on his medication, and had attacked a memorial.

Local Connor Tuxford, 31, had spotted Aitabbou being escorted into a waiting police van before cleaning up the site himself.

The warehouse operative said previously: “I went to pull out my phone as he was sitting on the floor with his legs crossed.

“He was clearly waiting for someone to notice him, for the attention. I was just walking back from work and I saw this guy ripping up all the flowers and smashing some jars.”

“I went and cleaned up the memorial afterwards because no one else did.

“I didn’t think much or anything of it but they started clapping me as I was doing it.”

Lee, of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, was murdered aged 25 in an unprovoked attack outside Woolwich Barracks in May 2013.

Islamist extremists Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale mowed him down in a car after they spotted him in a Help 4 Heroes top.

They then attacked him with knives and a meat cleaver.

Adebolajo was given a whole-life term and Adebowale was jailed for a minimum of 45 years.