The service was attended by several thousand people, including present and former soldiers, the prime minister David Cameron, and Mayor of London Boris Johnson.

[33] Ingrid Loyau-Kennett, a cub scout leader from Cornwall,[35] disembarked from a passing bus with the intention of rendering first aid, after she saw what she thought was a road accident.

[53] Michael Olumide Adebolajo, born in Lambeth to a Christian family,[35][54] went to Marshalls Park School and Havering Sixth Form College and then went to study sociology at the University of Greenwich.

[57] In 2009, Adebolajo spoke at a demonstration against the English Defence League and Stop Islamisation of Europe organised by Unite Against Fascism at Harrow Central Mosque.

[59] Boniface Mwaniki, head of Kenya's anti-terrorism unit, said he believed Adebolajo was planning to train with al-Shabaab, a militant group linked to al-Qaeda.

[14][79] The Home Secretary, Theresa May, chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Office Briefing Room committee (COBRA)[80] attended by Defence Secretary Philip Hammond, the Mayor of London Boris Johnson, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick and other unnamed members of the intelligence agencies.

[8][21] On 27 September 2013, the two accused men appeared via videolink in court at the Old Bailey, where they both pleaded not guilty to the murder of Lee Rigby, and to other charges relating to the incident.

[90] In the immediate aftermath, Julie Siddiqi of the Islamic Society of Britain expressed concern that the killing would be used to create ethnic and community divisions.

[91] Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe condemned the attack and called for a calm and "measured response", adding "we have met with community representatives, and extra officers remain on duty there tonight.

[75] The British National Party (BNP) leader, Nick Griffin, posted a series of Twitter messages blaming "mass immigration" for the attack and called for a protest rally in Woolwich.

[92] After the English Defence League called on its supporters to mobilise,[80] some members staged a protest at Woolwich Arsenal station in which bottles were thrown at police.

[91] The BNP scheduled their protest for 1 June, but Scotland Yard refused to permit them to march from Woolwich Barracks; the demonstration instead took place at Whitehall in central London.

In Braintree, Essex, a man entered a mosque with two knives, threatened the congregation, and threw an explosive device, which witnesses said was a grenade or gas canister.

In Gillingham, Kent, a man ran into a mosque and smashed windows and bookcases, specifically targeting those containing copies of the Quran; two men were arrested in connection with the attacks.

[105][106] On 5 June, the Al-Rahma Islamic Centre in Muswell Hill – which was used by children after school – was destroyed by a fire,[107] and the building had been sprayed with graffiti making reference to the English Defence League.

[110] On 10 June, a senior Metropolitan Police officer confirmed there had been an eight-fold increase in the number of Islamophobic incidents since Rigby's death, and that the real figure may be higher due to under-reporting.

[118] The UK government established a task force to look at ways of stemming the growth of Islamic extremism in Britain, focusing on the radicalisation of worshippers in mosques, university students and prisoners.

The task force – chaired by David Cameron – had its inaugural meeting at 10 Downing Street on 3 June 2013, and includes Cabinet Ministers, and representatives from the police and intelligence services.

"[125] In an interview with BBC News on 26 November 2014, Richard Barrett, the former Director of Global Counter-terrorism at MI6, said that it was unfair to expect companies to monitor websites for all potentially extremist content.

Adebowale pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm in 2019 and was sentenced to eight months in prison, to be served after his 45-year minimum tariff is complete.

[132] Baroness Neville-Jones, a former security minister and chairman of the British Joint Intelligence Committee, and Colonel Richard Kemp, a former Army commander, suggested blame could be put on internet hate preaching.

He criticised British support for the Syrian rebels, stating that similar attacks are likely to occur "as long as we are, as a country, involved in spreading murder and mayhem across the Muslim world.

"[134][135] Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair saw the attack not as an isolated expression of two crazed individuals but part of the broader "trouble within Islam".

Yusif al-Shihab, in Kuwait's Al-Abas, stated that the assailants have "deformed the image of Islam" while Batir Mohammad Wardum in the Jordanian daily Al-Dustur, and other Middle Eastern newspapers, stressed that their actions have endangered the lives of thousands of Muslims.

[74] In October 2013, British anti-terrorist police warned several Muslims who had spoken out against Islamist extremism, some of them explicitly against the murder of Rigby, that they had been targeted in a video created by al-Shabaab, the group responsible for the attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Kenya.

[139] On 29 April 2015, 18-year-old Kazi Islam, who was inspired by the murder, was convicted by a jury at the Old Bailey of grooming a vulnerable friend to kill two soldiers, and buying ingredients for a pipe bomb.

[141] On 14 January 2015, 26-year-old white supremacist Zack Davies of Mold, Flintshire attacked a Sikh dentist in a Tesco supermarket with a machete and a hammer.

[145] Plans for a memorial to Rigby in Woolwich initially ran into opposition from local MP Nick Raynsford, who expressed concerns that it would generate "undesirable interest from extremists" or become a target for vandals.

[149] Lee Rigby's name appears on a plaque on the south wall of the memorial garden inside the ruined St George's Garrison Church in Woolwich, opposite the Royal Artillery Barracks.

Fans of the club raised the funds to pay for the plaque, which was donated free of charge by local funeral directors with the money going to charity.