Officer tells court of moment Lee Rigby accused ran at her with a machete

Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale deny the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby. Credit: Metropolitan Police

An armed police officer thought one of Lee Rigby's alleged murderers was going to kill her as he ran towards marksmen waving his hands in a chopping motion, a jury has heard.

The officer, identified only as D49, said in a statement that she "instantly" thought she would die when Michael Adebolajo, 28, ran towards the car she had driven to Woolwich in the aftermath of the soldier's death.

ITV News UK Editor Lucy Manning's report has distressing evidence and pictures of the attack from the start:

Prosecutor Richard Whittam QC read her account to jurors at the Old Bailey, in which she said:

She then saw a second suspect, said to be Michael Adebowale, 22, holding a gun.

"I thought, 'oh my God, he's going to shoot me'. I feared for my life."

Adebolajo and Adebowale are accused of murdering Fusilier Lee Rigby near Woolwich Barracks in south-east London on 22nd May, as well as attempting to murder a police officer and conspiracy to murder a police officer on or before that day. They both deny the charges.

Video footage of Adebolajo charging towards the officers and flying into the air as he was shot was played to the court. Adebowale was also seen falling to the ground as he was shot in the video.

Another police officer known as E48 told the court that the officers had "very little time" to react when Adebolajo ran at them."He started to move towards the vehicle which started to raise my perception of the threat," the officer said. "He almost instantly broke into a sprint and I realised we were being attacked. We had very little time to deal with the threat."

Michael Adebowale (right) runs down the footpath as Michael Adebolajo is down on the road. Credit: Metropolitan Police

The court also heard statements from a number of paramedics who described Adebolajo talking about the military after he had been shot.

Paramedic Nicholas Goh described him saying: "I don't want anyone to die, I just want the soldiers out of my country. Your Government is all wrong. I did it for my God."

Once Adebolajo was taken to hospital, he remained under police guard and Police Constable Melita Vejnovic told the court he said to her:

He refused to sign a note of the statement he had made, but later dictated her a note that said: