Lee Rigby's mum told son 'to rest in peace' after sentencing

The fiancee of Lee Rigby has told ITV's This Morning that she will take comfort from the life sentences given to the two men who killed him.

Watch the video at This Morning's website

“It’s definitely some sort of comfort to know that I’m never going to bump into them in the streets and that they’re never going to be out again," Aimee West said.

"But I’m never going to see Lee again, that’s never going to bring Lee back.”

She said Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale scuffling with security guards in the dock yesterday rekindled some painful images.

"Just to see them kick off in the way that they did and start shouting, it was quite violent and just brought it all back. Just the images going round in your head again of that day in May, what it would have been like to be there.”

The mother of murdered soldier Lee Rigby said she told her son it was time for him to rest in peace as she watched the two men convicted of his death being sentenced.

Michael Adebolajo, 29, was given a whole life term and Michael Adebowale, 22, was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 45 years at the Old Bailey yesterday.

"I told Lee, 'It's time for you to rest in peace my beautiful son. Justice has been done and sleep well until we meet again,'" Lyn Rigby told The Sun.

"These sentences bring me comfort to know Lee will suffer no more - even though our pain goes on."

The 47-year-old said she could never forgive the pair who murdered her son near Woolwich Barracks in May last year, saying her hatred for them "burns my soul".

Read: 'Justice served for Lee Rigby' as murderers are jailed

The family of Lee Rigby have said in a statement, read by a representative, they welcome the sentences handed to Adebolajo and Adebowale:

Lee Rigby's family said Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale had received the "right prison terms" adding: "We feel satisfied that justice has been served for Lee."

Sentencing the killers, Mr Justice Sweeney said Lee Rigby "had done absolutely nothing to deserve what you went on to do to him."

Mr Justice Sweeney added: "It is no exaggeration to say that what the two of you did resulted in a bloodbath."

Adebolajo tried to behead the soldier while Adebowale stabbed him in the chest.

"You both gloried in what you had done," the judge told the court, and said it had a "severe and lasting impact" on his loved ones.

The struggle in the dock at the Old Bailey was triggered when Adebolajo and Adebowale - both wearing Islamic robes - reacted angrily to comments that Mr Justice Sweeney made about their extremist beliefs.

He told them: "You each converted to Islam some years ago. Thereafter you were radicalised and each became an extremist, espousing views which, as has been said elsewhere, are a betrayal of Islam."

Adebowale protested that this was a lie, ranting about America and Britain, and his accomplice joined in, screaming "allahu akbar" and hurling abuse at the prison guards who grappled him to the ground.

Both men were grabbed around the face as guards struggled to control them, and taken down to the cells.The soldier's family were visibly distressed, and one relative needed medical treatment.

Sue Hemming, head of special crime and counter terrorism at the Crown Prosecution Service, said:

Three people were arrested outside the Old Bailey today as far-right protesters gathered ahead of the sentencing of the two men who murdered soldier Lee Rigby.

Dozens of demonstrators gathered outside the court building, waving Union flags and chanting.

A City of London Police spokesman said two men were arrested, one on suspicion of actual bodily harm and one for affray.

A woman was arrested on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly.

The police spokesman said there was a "significant police presence" in the area.

The street has been closed in both directions outside the court.