UK spy agency criticised over Rigby report

New government report fails to address allegations of torture complicity and MI5 harassment of Lee Rigby's killer.


Tuesday's report by the UK parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee, which oversees the security services, largely exonerated them of blame over the killing of Lee Rigby, a British soldier who was hacked to death by two men near his barracks in Woolwich, south London, in May 2013.

Rigby's killers - Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale - were both known to the intelligence agencies as individuals involved in Islamic extremism, and the report said that mistakes in monitoring them had been made. But it concluded the agencies had not been in a position to prevent the attack.