UK Man Arrested over Finsbury Attack Facebook Post

Police arrested a man over comments made on Facebook about the Monday van attack against worshipers at a London mosque.

The BBC reports that Richard Evans has been arrested for posting offensive content to Facebook related to the attack on Muslims outside a mosque in Finsbury, UK. Richard Evans is the son of Lee Evans, who owns the company whose vehicle was used in the attack. Evans allegedly wrote a Facebook post reading, “It’s a shame they don’t hire out steam rollers or tanks could have done a tidy job then.” Police have said that a 37-year-old man has been held under “suspicion of displaying threatening, abusive, insulting written material with intent that is likely to stir up racial hatred.”

The posts were made under the Facebook account name “Richard Gear Evans” and included comments such as, “Glad I’m not running the van hire the police wouldn’t like what my answer would be,” and, “it’s my dad’s company I don’t get involved it’s a shame they don’t hire out steam rollers or tanks could have done a tidy job then.”  The account and comments posted by the account have since been deleted.

Lee Evans, the father of Richard Evans, strongly condemned his sons alleged remarks saying, “I want to condemn in the strongest possible terms these ill-considered comments, which in no way reflect my own view or indeed those of anyone else in the family.” He continued to say, “the attack in Finsbury Park was shocking and cowardly. Together with all the staff at Pontyclun Van Hire, I am doing everything I can to assist the Metropolitan Police in their inquiries.”

The suspect in the Finsbury Park attack has reportedly been named as Darren Osborne, a 47-year-old man from Cardiff. An unidentified man told The Daily Mail, “I’ve known him for 35 years, I grew up with him. It’s 100% him. He lives in Wales, he has four kids and his partner.” Osborne reportedly grew up in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, but later moved to Wales. Osborne was arrested on terrorism and attempted murder charges on Monday.