Trial for two men accused of ‘callous murder’ of UK soldier begins

People line the streets for the funeral procession of Fusilier Lee Rigby in Bury, England, on July 12, 2013

Two men went on trial Friday accused of the “cowardly and callous murder” of British soldier Lee Rigby in a London street.

Michael Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22, are each accused of murder, conspiracy to murder a police officer and attempted murder of a police officer.

They denied the charges at the Old Bailey court in London.

Prosecutor Richard Whittam told the jury that the suspects deliberately attacked an unarmed man from behind using a vehicle as a weapon, “and then they murdered him and mutilated his body with a meat cleaver and knives.”

Rigby, who was married with a young son, was killed on May 22 outside the Woolwich Barracks in southeast London, in an attack that shocked the nation.