- .Aimee West says she often has to block thoughts about fiance's killers
- .Was 3,500 miles away in Afghanistan when she learned of his murder
- .Says she has no emotion to the killers as she doesn't want them to win
- .Lee Rigby was hacked to death in street near Woolwich Barracks last year
- .Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale were jailed for life for murder
- .A new report is expected to say online behaviour by killers could have shown their plans
The fiance of Lee Rigby has spoken of her daily battle to block thoughts about the two Islamic extremists who murdered him in the street saying if she has emotions towards them it means they have won.
Aimee West was 3,500 miles away in Afghanistan when she learned that the fusilier had been hacked him to death in front of horrified onlookers near Woolwich Barracks in south-east London on May 22 last year.
His killers Michael Adebolajo received a whole-life term, while Michael Adebowale, was jailed for life with a minimum of 45 years.
Aimee West pictured with her fiance Lee Rigby before his death. She says that she has a daily battle to block thoughts about the two Islamic extremists who murdered him
Miss West met Fusilier Rigby at an Army Cadets training camp in Wales and became engaged in 2013
A Parliamentary report is expected to say that some of the online behaviour by Adebolajo before Fusilier Rigby's death could have pointed to his intentions.
Now in a interview with the Telegraph, Miss West, 24, says she doesn't think about the killers as she refuses to let them ruin her memories of her fiance.
She told the newspaper: 'I had a lot of therapy after this happened and the one thing that stuck with me was that if I think about them, if I have any emotion towards them - they've won.
'They haven't just killed Lee, they've killed me as well. And I refuse to let them do that.
'It's as if I'm standing on the outside looking in, like everybody else. I've mentally detached myself to be able to cope.'
Miss West began a relationship with Mr Rigby in 2012 when they met at an Army Cadets training event in Wales.
Miss West, left, has now said she refuses to think about the killers of her fiance, Lee, right
The 25-year-old father-of-one was then estranged from his wife Rebecca, who he had his son Jack with, and was getting a divorce.
The following year, before the military police woman flew away for a tour of Afghanistan, he proposed and she accepted.
Following Mr Rigby's death, Miss West says she has now quit the Army and has gone back to university, where she is studying to be a lawyer.
She also set up the Lee Rigby Fund as part of the Soldiers' Sailors' and Airmen's Families Association.
Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale who were both convicted of murdering Lee Rigby outside Woolwich Barracks last year
British-born Adebolajo and Adebowale mowed down Fusilier Rigby in a car as he was walking towards the barracks wearing a Help for Heroes hoodie, before hacking him to death.
They both claimed that they were ‘soldiers of Allah’ and were motivated by the plight of Muslims abroad to carry out the killing, which they called an 'act of war'.
Mayhem broke out at the Old Bailey earlier this year as the remorseless killers disrupted proceedings when they were accused of a 'betrayal' of Islam.
As he was about to be jailed for life without parole Adebolajo shouted Allahu Akbhar, and Adebowale called out ‘that's a lie’ and ‘it's not a betrayal of Islam’ as the judge told them they had been radicalised.
Last week it was revealed that internet service providers did not raise the alarm about extreme messages posted by one of the killers of Fusilier Lee Rigby in the six months before his death.
The companies - who have come under intense pressure to do more to help police and the security services - failed to inform authorities about material posted by Michael Adebolajo before the attack he carried out with Michael Adebowale.
Floral tributes were left at the scene near Woolwich Barracks where Fusilier Rigby was targeted as he walked along the street wearing a Help for Heroes hoodie
It meant MI5 missed internet messages that could have alerted them to the threat posed by the murderers.
A long-awaited report by Parliament’s intelligence watchdog is expected to say Adebolajo was posting extremist material on social media sites in the months leading up to the attack.
The messages would have been sufficiently serious to justify the security services – who had had Adebolajo on their radar for eight years – putting him under more detailed surveillance.
But officers found out about them only after the sickening murder of the 25-year-old soldier outside Woolwich Barracks in May last year.
The report is expected to conclude that officials could not have prevented the attack on the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment