Woolwich attack: murdered soldier named as father-of-one Drummer Lee Rigby

Sergeant Barry Ward said he was "a loving father" to his two-year-old son Jack, and had "a very bubbly character".

A shocked and tearful neighbour outside the family home, a council house on the Langley estate in Middleton, Greater Manchester said: "He had always wanted to be in the army since he was knee high."

The woman, who did not want to be named, added: "He was a lovely lad, he lived around here for years and went to Middleton Tech."

A steady stream of relatives and friends visited the house throughout the day to support the family.

Police and PCSOs also stood guard outside the house and patrolled the street.

Drummer Rigby, who joined the Army in 2006, had served in Helmand province, Afghanistan, where he was a member of the Fire Support Group in Patrol Base Woqab.

A life-long Manchester United fan, he had also stood outside the Royal Palaces as part of his battalion's public duties commitment.

Lieutenant Colonel Jim Taylor, Commanding Officer Second Fusiliers, said Drummer Rigby was a "real character".

He said: "Larger than life, he was at the heart of our Corps of Drums.

"An experienced and talented side drummer and machine gunner, he was a true warrior and served with distinction in Afghanistan, Germany and Cyprus.

"His ability, talent and personality made him a natural choice to work in the recruiting group. He will be sorely missed by everyone in the Second Fusiliers."

The Rt Revd Mark Davies, The Bishop of Middleton, said; "The nation has been shocked by Lee's death. But the greatest burden is carried by those he knew and loved. Our prayers and sympathies are with his family, friends and those he served with."

The serving soldier was hacked to death in daylight yesterday in front of horrified onlookers by two British men of Nigerian descent.

The pair, who were shot by police, were known to security services, and apparently shouted "Allah Akhbar" as they struck.

It is believed that the serving soldier was run over and then hacked to death, yards from a primary school.

In the immediate aftermath of the barbaric assault, video footage emerged of the men clutching bloodied weapons including a meat cleaver.

One chilling clip showed a man with heavily blood-stained hands claiming the killing was committed in the name of Allah and ranting about the Government.

While the killers were under armed guard in different London hospitals, it is understood police searched the former home of a man called Michael Adebolajo in Lincolnshire.

Following a meeting of the Cobra emergency response committee today, Prime Minister David Cameron said: "What happened yesterday in Woolwich has sickened us all. On our televisions last night and in our newspapers this morning, we have all seen images that are deeply shocking."

He said he could not comment on the now-confirmed reports that both attackers were known to security services.

"The point that the two suspects in this horrific attack were known to the security services has been widely reported. You would not expect me to comment on this when a criminal investigation is ongoing," he said.

The anti-terror investigation quickly spread beyond the capital, with Met officers travelling 150 miles to Lincolnshire to carry out searches.

Anti-terror police investigating the "barbaric" murder of a soldier in London have searched a property 150 miles away in Lincolnshire.

Scotland Yard refused to comment, but Lincolnshire Police said: "We can confirm that the Metropolitan Police executed a search warrant under PACE (Police and Criminal Evidence Act) at an address in Lincolnshire. This is in connection with the ongoing investigation into the murder of a man in Woolwich. The Metropolitan Police are not prepared to discuss the matter further at this stage."

While the two self-confessed killers were under armed guard in different London hospitals, detectives swooped on an address in Saxilby.

Police also raided a flat on a housing estate in east Greenwich, south-east London, this morning, in a move thought to be linked to yesterday's incident.

This afternoon two police vans were stationed outside the ground-floor flat on Eastney Street, with about a dozen officers stationed outside. The front door of the flat had been shattered.

One neighbour said four people had been led away from the flat at 6am, and that two children, aged three and seven, were also taken away.

The news came as Scotland Yard confirmed that the victim of the attack, which took place in daylight yesterday afternoon, was a serving soldier, who has yet to be formally identified.

Sources said both the killers are believed to be British citizens with Nigerian connections who converted to a radical form of Islam. But they are not thought to have links to terror groups based in Nigeria, such as the jihadist organisation Boko Haram.

Security chiefs and politicians met this morning to discuss their response to the attack.

Arriving for a meeting of the Government's Cobra crisis commitee, mayor of London Boris Johnson said it was wrong to link the murder with British foreign policy or the actions of Britain's armed forces overseas.

Mr Johnson said: "The fault lies wholly and exclusively in the warped and deluded mindset of the people who did it."

The mayor also urged Londoners to "go about their lives in the normal way".

Others attending the meeting included Sir John Sawers, head of security service MI6.

Security was tight this morning at the army barracks near the scene of yesterday's killing.

Troops in London were advised in the immediate aftermath of the attack not to wear their uniforms outside their bases.

But at the Cobra meeting this morning it was agreed that issuing orders against wearing military uniforms in public would not be the right response to the outrage.

A No 10 source said last night's advice was an "understandable reaction" while the circumstances of the attack were still unclear, but Mr Cameron and others at the meeting agreed that "the best way to defeat terrorists was to continue with normal life".

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "In light of yesterday's events and the emerging situation, the military chain of command introduced a package of immediate reactive security measures on a precautionary basis.

"Following a review of the situation this morning, a decision has been taken to relax some of these temporary measures imposed yesterday, including advice to members of the armed forces in London not to wear uniform outside of defence establishments.

"The best way we can defeat terrorism is to carry on as normal, and that includes our personnel wearing their uniform."

Prime Minister David Cameron was briefed by Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe on the murder investigation before chairing the meeting of Cobra at 10 Downing Street.

In a message on Twitter, Mr Cameron described the killing as "sickening".

Meanwhile, a woman who risked her life to confront one of the killers who murdered the soldier in front of horrified passers by described how she tried to calm him moments after the attack.

Ingrid Loyau-Kennett, 48, was on a bus heading through Woolwich when she spotted the stricken soldier lying bloodied in the road.

Her bravery - and that of others who tried to reason with the killers - has been praised, particularly in the wake of amateur footage from the scene, which shows one of the killers making political statements about the slaughter while still brandishing weapons.

Cub leader Ms Loyau-Kennett, of Helston in Cornwall, told ITV Daybreak she initially thought the victim had been injured in a car crash.

She said: "I went to the guy and when I approached the body there was a lady cradling him. And then (one of the killers), the most excited one of the two, said 'Don't go too close to the body'.

"I thought, OK. And because I was down I could see a butcher's knife and an axe - that's what he had - and blood. I thought, what the heck? I thought obviously he was a bit excited and the thing was just to talk to him."

Ms Loyau-Kennett said she tried to reason with the killer to focus his attention away from other potential victims, as large crowds began to gather at the scene.

She said: "I know it's big today but for me it was just a regular guy, just a bit upset. He was not on drugs, he was not drunk.

"He said 'Don't touch, I killed him'. I said 'Why?' He said 'He's a British soldier. He killed people. He killed Muslim people in Muslim countries'.

"And I said, OK. So what would you like? I tried to make him talk about how he felt. He said all the bombs dropping and blindly killing women, children...

"More and more people were starting to come. There were so many people around. I just looked around and I found it so daunting."

Ms Loyau-Kennett said her thoughts were to "just carry on" talking to the man, while several women arriving at the scene tried to shield the victim.

She said: "I wanted him to concentrate on me and make sure he doesn't have a funny idea.

"He (the killer) told me he was a British soldier - he didn't look like a British soldier to me, he wasn't in uniform. But I thought if another one passes by, or is in the area..."

Woolwich and Greenwich MP Nick Raynsford praised the "extraordinary" bravery of members of the public who approached the killers.

The men are in separate London hospitals being treated for injuries after they were shot by police at the scene.

One of the attackers behind the barbaric killing was filmed wielding a bloodied meat cleaver, saying: "We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you."

In the chilling footage, he explains his terrifying actions.

"We must fight them as they fight us. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," he is heard to say in the clip, obtained by ITV News.

"I apologise that women have had to witness this today, but in our land our women have to see the same. You people will never be safe. Remove your Government, they don't care about you."

The attacker, who spoke clear English without a foreign accent, is then seen walking towards the victim, who is lying in the street. Another man is standing by the damaged car.

The incident occurred some 200 yards from the Royal Artillery Barracks, adjacent to Woolwich Common, the historical home of the Royal Artillery.

The barracks, also known as the Woolwich station, now houses a number of the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery and independent companies of the Grenadier and Coldstream Guards.

A car believed to have been used in the attack was taken away during the night.

The blue vehicle, which appeared to have collided with a road sign in John Wilson Street, was covered with a red tarpaulin and taken away by a tow truck.

Former chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee Baroness Neville-Jones said the security services would be exploring whether the attack was carried out by a "lone wolf" or by someone with connections to terror groups at home or abroad.

"Clearly, as in this case the perpetrators are still alive, they are going to be questioned. There is going to be a great deal of information available," she said on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"There is a much bigger problem, potentially.

"Isolated attacks of the kind we have just seen, of this kind of attack, I'm inclined to think is possibly more in the nature of a lone wolf, is particularly hard to deal with because there are very few outward signs beforehand of the nature the intelligence services can pick up."

A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman confirmed that officers travelled to Lincolnshire last night to carry out searches.

She said: "We can confirm that the MPS (Metropolitan Police Service) executed a search warrant at an address in Lincolnshire. This is connected to the ongoing investigation into the murder of a man in Woolwich."

Local Muslim Lucky Awale witnessed the attack as she made her way home from local shops with her sister.

She said: "When we got near we saw this guy with dark clothes holding the knife and talking like a crazy man, saying 'this Government needs to change', things like that.

"He wasn't scared, he was saying 'call the police'."

She said the men could not be real Muslims but suggested they had their own reasons for doing it.

"We live multiculturally, all kinds of people live here, all kinds of religions," she added.

"For incidents like this to happen in the name of Muslims, it sends the wrong impression to people like the EDL, thinking that Muslims would be like that."

Mrs Awale said her sympathy was with the dead man's family and she was scared that such a violent attack could happen where she lived.

She continued: "We are scared as a community today. My sister lives near here and she is scared to come out, she is scared of the EDL and everything.

"Our kids are big enough to go to school by themselves but today we had to take them because we are scared.

"We are just asking for people not to take the wrong impression, the wrong idea, and take revenge on Muslims."

Anjem Choudary, former leader of banned Islamic group Al Muhajiroun, said he knew one of the alleged attackers but had not seen him for about two years.

He claimed to recognise the man who was filmed wielding a bloodied meat cleaver while saying: "We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you."

Mr Choudary said he was not aware of the alleged killer's nationality following reports that both men were British citizens with Nigerian connections who had converted to a radical form of Islam.

"We must concentrate on why this incident took place," Mr Choudary said.

"That is the presence of British forces in Muslim countries and the atrocities they've committed, and how the Muslim community in this country are under pressure due to draconian laws which have tried to silence them."

In a message on Twitter, Mr Cameron said: "I will be making a statement shortly. One of the best ways to defeat terrorism is to go about our normal lives."

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said: "I am shocked by the brutality of this cold-blooded murder of a serviceman on the streets of London.

We are co-operating with the Metropolitan Police in their investigation and will take all steps necessary to protect our servicemen and women. My thoughts are with the family and loved ones of the deceased."

Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir David Richards said: "I was appalled to hear of this abhorrent crime committed against one of our servicemen.

"I add my voice to that of the rest of the country in condemning this foul act and I extend my deepest sympathies to the family and loved ones of the victim during this most distressing time."

Police raided a flat on a housing estate in east Greenwich, south-east London, this morning, in a move thought to be linked to yesterday's incident.

This afternoon two police vans were stationed outside the ground-floor flat on Eastney Street, with about a dozen officers stationed outside. The front door of the flat had been shattered.

One neighbour said four people had been led away from the flat at 6am, and that two children, aged three and seven, were also taken away.

The 62-year-old, who did not want to be named, said: "I've never noticed anything suspicious.

"When I saw the police here, first of all I thought it was drugs, then I heard people saying it was something to do with what happened yesterday."

The flat has now been sealed off by officers.

A neighbour spoke of his shock at the police raid in Greenwich, saying the family was "very quiet".

He said he was woken at a minute to 6am today to see "balaclava-ed, machine-gun wielding policemen smashing the door in".

The 38-year-old said children were also taken out of the property.

He said: "I was very surprised to see their door being knocked down. They're a nice, quiet polite family, who I say hello to when I see them coming and going.

"I would say the sisters are Muslim, from what I've seen - I would sometimes see them wearing the hijab and sometimes wearing everyday, normal clothes.

"It may have depended on where they were going and who they were interacting with."

He said he did not know the link between this morning's raid and yesterday's killing, and that he had not seen either of the men identified as suspects in media coverage around the estate.

Neighbour Nicola James, 45, said she believed one of the men arrested over the Woolwich incident was in a relationship with one of the two women who live at the Greenwich flat.

She said she had seen him on the estate in recent weeks.

The woman had converted to Islam a few years ago, Ms James added.

Two officers walked out of the flat carrying two full black bin liners later this afternoon.

Ms James said she had not seen the other suspect around the housing estate, but added: "He was always out in Woolwich, giving out radical leaflets."

William Bennett, who lives near the raided property, also said he had seen one of the suspects near the Eastney Street flats, the last sighting being about a month ago.

Alfie Swain, who said he had met the victim, told BBC News: "I can't explain it, how much it hurts. It's just disappointing.

"I'd met him in and out of the Army base itself. Hearing that he's gone is just destroying. He was a nice man. He was caring, loving. To hear that he's gone is just disappointing.

"I'm just terribly, terribly upset. I just want to burst into tears right now."

But the would-be squaddie said yesterday's atrocity will not stop him from joining the Army.

"I've wanted to join the Army since I was a kid, I've been thinking about it so now I'm going to do it.

"I'm going to join up no matter what. I know it's going to be hard for me but I'm going to join up and do the best that I can."

Religious groups and charities have come together to condemn the attack in Woolwich.

The Muslim Council of Britain said the killers' use of "Islamic slogans" indicated they were motivated by their faith.

A statement from the council said: "This is a truly barbaric act that has no basis in Islam and we condemn this unreservedly. Our thoughts are with the victim and his family.

"We understand the victim is a serving member of the Armed Forces. Muslims have long served in this country's Armed Forces, proudly and with honour.

"This attack on a member of the Armed Forces is dishonourable, and no cause justifies this murder."

The group called for vigilance and solidarity between "all our communities, Muslim and non-Muslim", and for police to "calm tensions".

Akbar Khan from Building Bridges said : "We totally condemn the killing of an innocent person in Woolwich.

"And we also condemn all forms of extremism wherever they are.

"The thoughts of the Muslim community are with the family of the man who lost his life, and we pray for him."

Mohammed Shafiq from the Ramadhan Foundation said yesterday: "I wish to condemn the evil and barbaric crime carried out in Woolwich.

"Our immediate thoughts are with the family and friends of the victims. From whatever angle you see the attack, it was at every level evil.

"We must allow the police to gather all the facts before unnecessary speculation and wait for the facts before determining its impact on our country.

"But what happens in the days to come, London and our nation will come together and will not be divided. The terrorists will never win and succeed in their evil plans.

"But tonight we think of the family of that soldier killed."

Fiyaz Mughal, the director of charity Faith Matters, said: "The cold-blooded killing of a serving British soldier is a crime that sickens every member of every community in the UK.

"For the peace of our communities to be shattered like this is almost unthinkable. We must come together, isolate those who believe that extremism and violence are acceptable, and work to ensure that they meet the full force of the law.

"We must send a clear message to anyone that an attack on a serving soldier going about their daily activities is something that must be utterly condemned."

Former home secretary Lord Reid condemned the "brutal, inhumane and terrible murder of an innocent person".

While he said the threat from terrorists was continual, he insisted they would not succeed in their bid to "impose their will on others" in the UK.

Lord Reid told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland the killing in Woolwich was a "horrific and terrible attack", and added: "The bad news is that becomes harder to prevent."

He said it was "a testament to the effectiveness of our security forces in this country that they have prevented it for many, many years".

The former home secretary added: "We can get complacent - its easy to think because there hasn't been a terrorist attack in the recent past that somehow the threat has gone away. I have continually said it hasn't, it's there continually, it's still substantial.

"The macabre manner of the killing and the propaganda associated with it was meant to terrify and frighten people, because that is the nature of what terrorists do - which is to try to impose their will on others, through fear and indiscriminate violence.

"But it won't work. It never has in the past in this country and it won't in the future."

Julie Siddiqi, of the Islamic Society of Britain, told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "We can't allow the voices of Nick Griffin and the far right to become louder than ours in the coming days. They will say what we have to say and it gives us even more incentive to speak out and come together and not allow people like that to divide us as a country.

"The people who did this act yesterday do not speak in my name, do not speak for my community or the rest of the country. We have to come out with the strongest condemnation, which is what I'm seeing this morning.

"All of the Muslim organisations have come out with the strongest possible terms to say there is absolutely no excuse whatsoever, no justification for anything like this.

"This is one of the most shocking things I have seen in recent years and to have the people of Woolwich have to experience that so close to them, I just feel is absolutely horrific."