One of the two Nigerian terrorists who murdered British soldier Lee Rigby (pictured right below) on a south London street and were jailed has been given the right to appeal against his life sentence due to mental health problems.
Michael Adebowale, 22 (pictured), was given a 45-year minimum term for murdering the soldier in Woolwich last year.
It was confirmed yesterday that Adebowale will now be allowed to appeal against his punishment after he was transferred to Broadmoor Hospital.
Adebowale was jailed alongside Michael Adebolajo, 29 (pictured below), in February after the pair ran over Fusilier Lee Rigby in a car before attacking him with knives and a meat cleaver.
Adebolajo was given a whole-life sentence, meaning he will never be released from prison.
Adebowale had been serving the first months of his prison term at Belmarsh high-security prison in south-east London.
But he was moved to a mental health unit at Broadmoor two weeks ago after reportedly ‘hearing voices’ and suffering ‘psychotic episodes’.
It emerged yesterday according to reports that, because of his mental health, he will now be able to appeal against his sentence in a bid to win an early release.
After being told of Adebowale’s prison transfer on what would have been the day after Drummer Rigby’s 27th birthday, the deceased’s family have branded the latest decision ‘a joke’
His mother, Lyn, told The Sun the protracted legal case meant the ‘heartache never stops’ for her and makes it ‘impossible’ to grieve.
Father-of-one Lee Rigby was just 25 when he was brutally murdered as he walked back to his barracks in Woolwich on May 22 last year.
