LONDON -- The wife of a British soldier brutally murdered in broad daylight in London said on Friday that she thought he was safe in England after returning from active duty in Afghanistan.

Several of Drummer Lee Rigby’s relatives made an emotional, tear-strewn appearance at a news conference Friday, as dramatic video footage emerged showing the moments that police shot two men later arrested over the killing.

Rigby, 25, known as “Riggers” to his friends, was walking near an army barracks in Woolwich, South London, when he was killed on Wednesday.

At the news conference Friday, his father Ian, who did most of the talking as the others mostly appeared too upset to speak, said his son was a “hero” and “didn’t deserve this.”

Rigby’s wife, Rebecca, 30, spoke briefly and was clearly struggling to do so.

“I just want to say that I love Lee. I always will and I’m proud to be his wife,” she said.

“He was due to come up this weekend, so we could continue our future together as a family. He was a devoted father to our son Jack and we’ll both miss him terribly,” she added.

Later, she spoke of her shock at his death in England.

“You don’t expect it to happen when he’s in the U.K. You think they’re safe,” she said. “You know it’s dangerous when they go somewhere like that [Afghanistan] … he’s walked up and down that road so many times before.”

The new video footage was published by the Mirror newspaper, which it said showed the moments when police officers shot the two alleged attackers. It contains scenes that people may find disturbing.

In the video, shot from high above the scene, a man is seen running toward a police car, dropping something that looks like a knife. Two shots are heard and he falls to the ground.

Another man, not clearly visible beneath the trees, appears to hold out his arm toward the officers with something in his hand. A burst of three shots and then another are heard and he also falls to the ground. There are then two further shots.

Separate video footage taken before the police arrived showed a passerby talking to one of the men, who was carrying a large knife and whose hands were covered in blood. The passerby, Ingrid Loyau-Kennett, said she also saw a gun.

The two men were taken to hospitals in London for treatment and were later arrested.

At the family news conference, Ian Rigby said that when his son was born, he was “a precious gift” to the family.

“What can we say about Lee, our hero, we’re so proud of Lee,” his father said, struggling to compose himself.

He said Lee had a “fiery temper” when he was younger and he used to sit on his son while trying to calm him down, but when he got too big at about 15 “he used to sit on me.”

Ian Rigby said it had been his son’s dream when he was growing up to join the army.

“He was dedicated and loved his job. Lee adored and cared a lot for all his family and he was very much a family man, looking out for his wife, his young son Jack and his younger sisters, who in turn looked up to him,” he said. “He always had a banter [teasing and joking] with them, but would never ever let any harm come to them.”

The slain soldier had been “over the moon” at becoming a father and an uncle, his father said.

“Lee was a man who loved people. He had many friends growing up in Middleton [Greater Manchester] and on army duties all over the world, where he’d been sent,” he added. “He believed life was for living and he will be sorely missed by all who knew him.”

A statement by his sisters – read by Ian Rigby – said “rest in peace Lee, we loved you so much and you didn’t deserve this.”

“You fought for your country and did it well. You will always be our hero. We’re just upset you left us so early,” the statement added.

Ian Rigby read the last text that Lee Rigby had sent to his mother.

“Good night mam [mother], I hope you had a fantastic day today because you are the most fantastic, one-in-a-million mum that anyone could ever have wished for. Thank you for supporting me all these years. You’re not just my mum, you’re my best friend.”

He also read a poem for his son, that included the lines:

“Our family chain is broken,

And nothing is the same,

But as God takes us one by one,

Our chain will link again.”

Related:

• UK mom calms man with blood-soaked knife after suspected deadly terror attack
• PhotoBlog: Britons react with horror and anger to London attack
• 'Leave our lands': Man knifed to death in suspected London terror attack

Ministry of Defence

Drummer Lee Rigby was identified Thursday as the soldier killed in London in a suspected terror attack on Wednesday.

The British soldier brutally killed in London in a suspected terror attack was a drummer in a military band who had served in Afghanistan, officials said on Thursday.

Lee Rigby, 25, known as “Riggers” to his friends, was killed in broad daylight on Wednesday as he walked in Woolwich, South London, near an army barracks.

In a statement, the U.K. Ministry of Defence said Rigby, who served with the 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, was “a loving father” to his two-year-old son Jack.

“An extremely popular and witty soldier, Drummer Rigby was a larger than life personality within the Corps of Drums and was well known, liked and respected across the Second Fusiliers,” the statement said.

“He will be sorely missed by all who knew him. The Regiment’s thoughts and prayers are with his family during this extremely difficult time,” it added. “Once a Fusilier, always a Fusilier.”

The statement said Rigby was born in Manchester, England and had joined the army in 2006.

It said he had been deployed on operation in Helmand province, Afghanistan, in April 2009, “where he served as a member of the Fire Support Group in Patrol Base Woqab.”

Rigby had previously helped guard the U.K.’s royal palaces. “He was an integral member of the Corps of Drums throughout the Battalion’s time on public duties, the highlight of which was being a part of the Household Division’s Beating the Retreat - a real honour for a line infantry Corps of Drums,” the statement said.

He had also served with his unit in Cyprus and Germany. In 2011, Rigby began a recruiting post in London and assisted with duties at the Tower of London.

The commanding officer of the Second Fusiliers, Lieutenant Colonel Jim Taylor, said Rigby was “a dedicated and professional soldier.”

“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,” he said.

His platoon commander from 2010 to 2011, Captain Alan Williamson said “Riggers” was a “cheeky and humorous man, always there with a joke to brighten the mood.”

Related:

• UK mom calms man with blood-soaked knife after suspected deadly terror attack
• PhotoBlog: Britons react with horror and anger to London attack
• 'Leave our lands': Man knifed to death in suspected London terror attack

LONDON - A mother-of-two who confronted a blood-soaked, knife-carrying man in the moments after what is suspected to be the ideologically motivated murder of a British soldier said she wanted to protect onlookers.

Ingrid Loyau-Kennett, 48, jumped off the bus she was riding in southeast London Wednesday when she saw the man slumped on the sidewalk next to a crashed car.

British police said on Thursday that officers from London’s counter-terrorism unit were heading up the investigation. Eyewitness reports suggest the killing may have been carried out as a protest against British military actions in Muslim countries based on what they say they heard from the alleged attackers.

Loyau-Kennett had intended to offer first aid, but instead found herself standing in the aftermath of the horrific killing of a soldier in broad daylight in Woolwich, London.

The U.K. Ministry of Defence named the victim as Lee Rigby, a 25-year-old drummer with the Second Battalion, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers who was father of a two-year-old boy. and who had served in Afghanistan. Floral tributes were laid outside the military barracks near the scene.

“I saw a man on the road obviously injured and a car badly crashed," she told U.K. channel ITV on Thursday. "So I assumed it was a road accident."

However, she says when she got closer she saw a man covered in blood and carrying a butcher's knife. She also says she saw a handgun.

"I thought 'what the heck has happened there?'" she said.

“He was obviously a bit excited and the thing was to talk to him,” Loyau-Kennett said, adding that her instinct was to keep the suspected attacker calm in order to protect the crowd that was beginning to gather.  

ITV News

A suspect, left, talks to the camera immediately after Wednesday's attack.

Pictures at the scene show her, hands in pockets, speaking apparently calmly to a man holding a long knife.

Loyau-Kennett, from Cornwall, England, found it “daunting” to continue to engage the blood-soaked man as more bystanders appeared, in particular mothers with their children.

“There were more and more mothers with children coming by so it was more and more important that I talk to him,” she said.

British Prime Minister David Cameron paid tribute to her Thursday, saying she was "brave" as he pledged that U.K. investigators "will not rest until we know every single detail of what happened and we've brought all of those responsible to justice."

Speaking on the steps of 10 Downing Street, he said: "This country will be absolutely resolute in its stand against violent extremism and terror. We will never give in to terror."

"One of the best ways of defeating terrorism is to go about our normal lives. And that is what we shall all do."

A second alleged attacker, his hands covered in blood and holding a meat cleaver, was captured on video -- obtained exclusively by NBC News's U.K. news partner, ITV News -- telling passers-by: "By Allah we swear by the almighty Allah and we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone."

Eyewitnesses described the victim of the attack as being chopped up like a "piece of meat."

The witnesses said two men were later shot by officers. The injured duo were taken to a hospital where they were later arrested in connection with the case.

NBC News understands the two suspects have been investigated by British security services in the past.

Two further arrests were made Thursday, Britain's Counter Terrorism Command announced. A 29-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman were taken into custody on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder. 

The Muslim Council of Great Britain on Wednesday condemned the attack, which it said would "heighten tensions on the streets of the United Kingdom."

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

Those tensions were underlined late Wednesday when a small number of members of the anti-immigrant English Defence League extremist group were involved in minor scuffles with police in Woolwich.

In his statement to reporters on Thursday, Cameron said: "This was not just an attack on Britain - and on our British way of life - it was also a betrayal of Islam - and of the Muslim communities who give so much to our country. There is nothing in Islam that justifies this truly dreadful act."

However, on its English-language media Twitter feed, al Qaeda-linked Africa terror group al-Shabab said: "What Cameron describes as a sickening attack is what innocent Muslim woman and children are subjected to every day by British troops."

London Mayor Boris Johnson said it was "completely wrong" to blame the killing on Islam, saying the fault lies with the "warped and deluded" mindset of the people responsible. He said it was "equally wrong" to try to draw any link between the incident and British foreign policy.

He also called on the Londoners to send a message of defiance by carrying on "as normal" in the wake of the horrific attack.

Johnson was speaking to reporters after cycling to a meeting of the British government's emergency response committee, Cobra.

President Obama released a statement on the attack Thursday, condemning it "in the strongest terms."

"The United States stands resolute with the United Kingdom, our ally and friend, against violent extremism and terror.  There can be absolutely no justification for such acts, and our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the victim, the police and security services responding to this horrific act and the communities they serve, and the British people," the president said in the statement.

"Our special relationship with the United Kingdom is especially important during times of trial."

NBC News' Keir Simmons and Rohit Kachroo and ITV News' Darren Burn contributed to this report.

Related:

PhotoBlog: Britons react with horror and anger to London attack

'Leave our lands': Man knifed to death in suspected London terror attack

This story was originally published on Thu May 23, 2013 7:23 AM EDT

LONDON -- A man was killed by knife-wielding assailants on a London street Wednesday, and a bloodstained suspect at the scene holding a meat cleaver was captured on video telling passers-by: "We swear by the almighty Allah."

Eyewitnesses said the two attackers were later shot by officers, and described the victim as being chopped like a "piece of meat." Those two men were taken to a hospital where they were later arrested.

Local lawmaker Nick Raynsford said the dead man was a British soldier serving at a nearby barracks, but the Ministry of Defence could not immediately confirm this.

The man holding the cleaver was videotaped by a bystander saying: "By Allah we swear by the almighty Allah and we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone."

In the video, obtained exclusively by NBC's UK news partner, ITV News, the man also said: "Leave our lands and we can all live in peace, that's all I have to say."

Prime Minister David Cameron, on a trip to Paris which he cut short to return to London and chair an emergency national security meeting, said: "It is the most appalling crime. Tonight our thoughts should be with the victim and their families and friends.

"People across Britain, people in every community, I believe, will utterly condemn this attack. We have had these sorts of attacks before in our country and we never buckle in the face of them.

"In a free country, the best way to defeat terrorism is to live your life, to show that terrorists can never win."

The two suspects were being treated at separate London hospitals, police said.

A senior British security source said it appeared to be an "ideologically motivated" killing. "From the look of it, it is indeed a low-tech terror attack," the source said.

"I am afraid it is overwhelmingly likely now to be a terrorist attack, the kind the city has seen before," London mayor Boris Johnson said in televised remarks.

The Muslim Council of Great Britain condemned the killing, which it said "will no doubt heighten tensions on the streets of the United Kingdom."

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

A witness identified as James told local radio station LBC that he saw two suspects attack the young victim with knives, including a meat cleaver.

"They were hacking at this poor guy, literally," he told the station. "They were hacking at him, chopping him, cutting him."

Multiple witnesses said the victim was wearing a T-shirt bearing the logo of the veterans charity Help for Heroes.

The attack took place less than a mile from a military barracks, in Woolwich, southeast London.

Britain’s Home Secretary Theresa May told ITV News she had been briefed by the Director General of the Security Service MI5 on what she called a "sickening and barbaric" attack.

One eyewitness posted on Twitter that he had seen the victim "with his head chopped off" but this was not confirmed by any police or government officials.

Local resident Graham Wilders told the BBC he saw a man pulling out a handgun. He said: 

“As I drove around the corner I see the car on the pavement. I thought there’s been an accident … there was two people leaning over and I thought they were trying to resuscitate him, there was a bloke against the wall.

“Next minute ... another bloke has come along and told me they were actually stabbing him, apparently they actually run the car into him and knocked him down before they done anything.

“And then next minute there was a bloke come along in a silver little car and he got out and he shouted out to everyone ‘someone phone the police.’ So we phone the police. So next minute what happened he actually pulled a handgun out.”

“Next minute I see the silver car shoot off.”

Metropolitan Police Commander Simon Letchford told reporters there were "a number of weapons" used in the attack, including a firearm. 

The attack happened at 2:20 p.m. local time (9:20 a.m. ET), he said. The attackers pounced on the victim in broad daylight.

After making his statement in the video (seen below), the man with the bloody knives walked back to the scene and spoke to the other suspect casually. 

Meanwhile, the New York Police Department on Wednesday said it had increased coverage of the British consulate, military recruiting stations and other locations as a result of the British attack. But department spokesman Paul Browne said those moves were not made based on information those facilities had been targeted, but rather in an abundance of caution.

NBC News' Richard Esposito contributed to this report

This story was originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 5:49 PM EDT

Andy Rain / EPA

A police dog handler checks a vehicle for explosives along the Mall in London on Saturday. The Mall will stage the finish line of the London Marathon on Sunday.

LONDON – The London Marathon: 36,000 runners, 650,000 spectators, and now 40 percent more police officers. The twin blasts that killed three and wounded 176 at the Boston Marathon Monday have prompted authorities in the U.K. to boost security at Sunday’s event, with about 700 additional security officers expected along the 26.2-mile long route. 

There are already over 33,000 police in London, which is no stranger to terrorist attacks.

"There are no gaps because obviously we police this every year with the London marathon and our other agencies - British Transport Police, London Police,” the head of the Metropolitan Police's London marathon operation Julia Pendry told NBC News’ U.K. partner ITV News.

"What we have done since Boston is we've reviewed our plans, we've reviewed our contingencies and I have put on increased numbers of officers in high visibility reassurance patrols,” she added.

The increase was meant to “make sure that when people step into the capital on Sunday they feel hopefully reassured and safe,” she said.

While U.K. officials have years of experience coping with security challenges – London has spent decades under the threat of bombs, first from Irish Republicans and more recently jihadists –a marathon is by its nature a potential security headache.

The race route is set to take runners past important and iconic sites – including Tower Bridge, the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace – as well as through Canary Wharf, the riverside financial district targeted by the Irish militants in the 1990s. 

In a statement released on Saturday, London Marathon chief executive Nick Bitel also acknowledged “additional security issues ahead of Boston, but that seems be bedding down and the message of reassurance to runners very well received.”

Related: Runners, fans determined not to shy away from London Marathon

Related: London beefs up marathon security

Marathon organizers and security officials would not go into great detail about security preparations, but they would likely have been watching the dramatic events unfold in Boston.

Slideshow: Search for suspects in Boston Marathon bombings

Jared Wickerham / Getty Images

Cheers filled the streets after a Boston Marathon bombing suspect was captured alive but wounded Friday night — following a daylong manhunt that shut down the city.

Launch slideshow

On Friday night, Boston police captured bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19. The arrest capped a manhunt that had the city of Boston and its suburbs locked down after the execution of a college campus patrol officer, a carjacking and the death of Tsarnaev's 26-year-old brother, Tamerlan, during a 200-bullet confrontation with cops.

British officials were keen to point out that there had been no change to the threat level and nothing to link the London marathon to the two bombings in Boston.

“There is no change in the threat in London,” Pendry said.

Despite any preparations, it would be impossible to make the marathon completely immune to attack, according to security expert Margaret Gilmore.

“You can’t ever guarantee safety,” said Gilmore, a senior research fellow specializing in homeland security at Royal United Services Institute, the U.K.'s top defense and security think tank.

Organizers were also planning to commemorate those killed and injured in Boston by holding a 30-second silence before each of the race’s three starts and handing out black ribbons to every runner. They also announced that they would donate around $3 to the Boston First fund for every finisher.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related:

What's next: The interrogation of the Boston bombing suspect

How thermal imaging helped catch bomb suspect

Timeline of terror hunt, from first photos to final fight 

LONDON -- British authorities ordered more police on the streets for Sunday's London Marathon in the wake of the Boston bombings, but experts warned it was "virtually impossible" to guarantee the safety of the hundreds of thousands who will attend the event. 

A police source said additional patrols by uniformed officers were planned to reassure the public in the wake of deadly attack.

While British security officials have been in contact with their counterparts in the U.S. following Monday's blasts, the U.K.'s threat level for international terrorism hasn't been changed from "substantial" -- the third of five categories on the scale.

At least 500,000 spectators are expected to watch Sunday’s race and Prince Harry is due to hand medals to the winners.

The course takes the 36,000 runners right past major sites - including Tower Bridge, the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace – as well as through Canary Wharf, the giant riverside financial district targeted twice by the Irish militants in the 1990s.

Even in a city that has spent recent decades under the threat of bombs – first from Irish Republicans, more recently jihadists – such a public event poses a security headache.

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police, said that the force was "taking more more precautions than we might have done otherwise."

"We will make sure we've got more officers on the street looking after people, making sure they're kept safe, but we've no reason to think they'd be any less safe than before the terrible events in Boston,." he said. "We'd be professionally irresponsible if we didn't take some reasonable steps."

Sang Tan / AP

Backdropped by Buckingham Palace, a jogger crosses the Mall in London on Tuesday. It will be transformed into the finishing area for Sunday's London Marathon.

Metropolitan Police Commander Christine Jones declined to give details of what changes might be made, if any, to the event's security plan. She said officers would “continue to review all the intelligence” available.

London Marathon chief executive Nick Bitel insisted the event would go ahead. “We will be reviewing our security in the coming days, in the light of what has happened in Boston," Bitel told ITV News.

"I don't want to talk about specifics of what security we have had in the past, or will have on Sunday. All I can say is that it will be of an appropriate level to meet whatever threat assessment is made, in conjunction with the police," he added.

Hugh Robertson, a British government minister, called for crowds and runners to attend in London as normal.

“The very best way to show solidarity with Boston is to get out there on the streets of London to cheer the runners on and to show that we won’t be defeated by this sort of activity,” he told the London Evening Standard newspaper.

Runners will be encouraged to wear a black ribbon at the start of the race to honor victims of the Boston bombing, and a 30-second silence will be observed, organizers said Wednesday. 

NBC News national security analyst Michael Leiter said it was “virtually impossible” to make a marathon completely secure because of its 26.2-mile long route.

“You just have to do the best you can to keep people safe and maintain resilience," he said. “It’s important we don’t alter our lives because that provides the terrorist – domestic, international, whoever it may be – with a huge victory.”

Helmut Spahn, executive director of the International Centre for Sport Security, told Reuters: "There has to be a clear analysis of the situation and certainly no over-reaction. More police, more military is not always the best solution. To have a 100 percent security is very, very difficult if not near impossible.”

Sang Tan / AP

A sign warns of road closures linked to the forthcoming London Marathon.

This story was originally published on Wed Apr 17, 2013 2:29 AM EDT

Slideshow: The life and times of Margaret Thatcher

John Minihan / Getty Images

A pioneer for her sex, Margaret Thatcher was prime minister of the United Kingdom for almost 12 years. Take a look back at her life and career.

Launch slideshow

LONDON - Police were on standby for street violence after protesters pledged to "celebrate" the death of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher with a party at the scene of a 1990 riot against one of her most unpopular policies.

Senior police officers have already launched an operation to prevent disorder surrounding her televised funeral at St Paul’s Cathedral on Wednesday, which is due to be attended by Britain’s queen and world leaders. Every living former U.S. president is invited.

With tight security around the official event, protest groups have threatened to gather on Saturday in London’s Trafalgar Square, where thousands rioted in March 1990 in protest against the introduction of the Poll Tax – a despised local government tax system that proved to be one of the main triggers of Thatcher’s political downfall in November that year.

Class War, which posted details of the event on Twitter, told the London Evening Standard that protesters planned to install an effigy of Thatcher on a vacant plinth in the square, which will then be toppled in a moment that a spokesman said would be a moment of “liberation and cathartic retribution.”

On Facebook, a group called “Maggie's good riddance party” called on demonstrators to gather at the funeral, with some attendees planning to turn their backs on Thatcher’s casket as it was taken through the streets. 

Thatcher, the country’s longest serving prime minister in a century and the first woman to hold the job, died on Monday after suffering a stroke at the age of 87.

She is both revered and reviled in Britain, where her free market reforms led a national economic resurgence but also created pockets of deep social deprivation in areas where former state-run industries such as coal mines and steel works were shut down or sold off with the loss of tens of thousands of jobs.

Steve Eason / Hulton Archive via Getty Images, file

Police and demonstrators clash in London's Trafalgar Square during rioting, which arose from a demonstration against the Poll Tax March 31, 1990.

Within hours of her death, there were violent scenes at celebratory parties, prompting much introspection in Britain about how to mark with the passing of an important but controversial national figure.

At her own request, she will not have an official state funeral - a decision that appeared to acknowledge that a government-funded event would be controversial and unpopular – and insisted there should be no military fly-past.

However, Wednesday’s ceremony is shaping up to the grandest of its kind since the funeral of wartime leader Winston Churchill in 1964.

Although groups cheering Thatcher’s death are in a minority, police are monitoring social media to gather intelligence on the scale and nature of any protests.

"Some say Margaret Thatcher is a divisive figure, but that's part of the tapestry of policing these events,” Metropolitan Police Commander Christine Jones told the Daily Telegraph. “If people come to London to cause trouble and commit crime we will deal with you.”

In a statement, she added: “The right to protest is one that must be upheld, however, we will work to do that whilst balancing the rights of those who wish to pay their respects and those who wish to travel about London as usual.”

The force is using its experience from handling the London Olympics in July to deal with the event. Blanket stop-and-search powers are expected to be introduced in the run up to the funeral.

The force also has a Fixated Threat Assessment Centre, which monitors disturbed individuals are obsessed with public figures.

Saturday’s protest is being supported by other groups such as the All London Anarchist Revolutionary Mob, the London Evening Standard reported.

“Miners will be coming down from the north, Wapping printers, steel workers - it will be a big crowd. We are talking thousands,” Class War founder Ian Bone told the newspaper.

 “It has been planned for years, always for the first Saturday after her death, and it is in the right place, where the Poll Tax riots were taking place.”

Jones added that dealing with threats of disorder was “part of the normal daily business of London.”

“We deal with more than 3,500 protests or facilitated events a year so this is nothing new,” she added.

Police are also liaising with Britain’s intelligence agencies amid speculation the funeral could be targeted by Irish Republican terrorists – although the overall terror threat level remained unchanged.

Thatcher was targeted by an Irish Republican Army bomb in 1984 in retaliation for her tough stance on the organization, and saw two close political friends killed in terrorist attacks.

Meanwhile, opponents are doing their best to get the "Wizard of Oz" song "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead" to the top of Britain’s version of the Billboard Hot 100. Midweek sales already have it in the Top 5 in the wake of a Facebook campaign.

That means the BBC will have to play the song during its chart show on Sunday. Conservative politicians have called on the broadcaster to not give it airtime. 

The BBC says its chart show is a factual account of what the British public has been buying and they will make a decision about whether to play the song when the final chart positions are clear on Sunday.

NBC News' Duncan Golestani contributed to this report.

Related:

'Iron Lady' Margaret Thatcher, who led conservative resurgence in Britain, dies at 87

Debate over funeral for 'loved, hated' former PM Thatcher divides Britain

'Wizard of Oz' song hits UK charts after Margaret Thatcher's death

LONDON -- A father was sentenced to life in jail Thursday for starting a fire that killed six of his own children as part of a disastrous plot to frame his former mistress, in a horrific case that has prompted an emotional debate about Britain’s welfare system.

Rui Vieira / AP

Mick Philpott and wife Mairead.

Mick Philpott, his wife, Mairead, and his friend Paul Mosley, were convicted of manslaughter for starting a house blaze that took the lives of the couple’s children Jayden, 5, Jesse, 6, Jack, 8, John, 9, Jade, 10, and 13-year-old Duwayne.

Unemployed Philpott – a father of 17 children by five women – intended to “rescue” his family and blame the fire on his mistress, Lisa Willis, 28, who was seeking court custody of the five children they had together.

When his plan went tragically wrong, the 56-year-old lied to protect himself - even shedding crocodile tears at a police news conference. But detectives quickly uncovered the truth.

The shocking case, in the central England town of Derby, made for emotive headlines in Britain’s newspaper’s Wednesday. “Pure evil” said The Mirror, while The Sun on its front page called Philpott a “child-killing b*****d.”

Steve Cotterill, Assistant Chief Constable of Derbyshire police, said the fire plot was “the most evil act I have ever known” and had led to “a complete and utter waste of six young and innocent lives.”

Reviled figure
Remarkably, Philpott was already a hate figure in Britain, reveling in notoriety on television where he was portrayed as a real-life version of the social underclass featured in the drama series, "Shameless".

He was pilloried for demanding a larger government home for his rapidly-expanding family. He had appeared on the daytime TV tabloid talk show, “The Jeremy Kyle Show,” alongside both his wife and his mistress to face demands that he have a vasectomy.

Both women for many years lived with Philpott, sharing his affections. Willis slept in a camping trailer parked on the tiny front lawn, while wife Mairead stayed in the house. On more than one occasion they were simultaneously pregnant.   

His deceit over the subsequent tragedy was unmasked when detectives noted his behavior did not fit the pattern of a grieving parent – he was observed singing Elvis’ Suspicious Minds during a karaoke session in a local bar – and began monitoring phone calls with his co-accused.

Mark St George / Rex Features via AP

The parents who killed six children in a house fire were sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court, England, Thursday.

Philpott had a history of horrific domestic violence and bullying, but in this instance his crime was motivated by money: Already the recipient of welfare checks owing to his unemployment, Philpott was entitled to further state payments for each of the children under the roof of his rented public home.

In total, he was in legitimate receipt of more than $90,000 a year in government handouts.

“He just wanted a house full of kids and the benefit money that brings,” prosecution lawyer Richard Latham said during the seven-week trial.

Welfare debate
That aspect of the case has further inflamed public anger, coming at a time when austerity-crippled Britain is bitterly divided over welfare payments.

The U.K.’s Conservative-led coalition on Monday introduced sweeping new limits to welfare checks and other government assistance schemes in a bid to save billions of dollars from the national deficit.

The liberal Guardian newspaper gravely characterized Monday’s cuts as “the day Britain changed,” but the government believes the moves have the support of many British taxpayers who are dismayed at some of the welfare checks paid out to large families. The language of the debate has divided the sides into “strivers” versus “skivers,” and “benefit recipients” versus “hard-working families.”

On Wednesday, the Daily Mail described Philpott on its front page as “The vile product of welfare UK” – a headline that drew criticism.

“There are, and have always been, a small minority of individuals capable of breathtaking cruelty,” wrote liberal commentator Owen Jones in The Independent. “The Philpott case relates in no way to people on benefits in this country.”

Derby City Council launched a review of its child welfare service in the wake of Tuesday’s verdict, amid suggestions that it should have intervened to remove the children from Philpott’s care.

However, Ann Widdecombe, a former Conservative minister who made a television documentary in which she tried to persuade Philpott to get a job and stop claiming welfare, said Wednesday: “This was very much a one-off. You cannot blame teachers or social services.

“When I visited, the children were clean, they were well-fed, they were not playing truant. There is no doubt he was using these children as a meal-ticket, but that doesn’t explain this act of wickedness."

“You cannot blame this tragedy on the benefits system," adding that Brits must "keep our heads.”

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'Nasty piece of work': Cloud over London's 'sunshine' mayor Boris Johnson

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This story was originally published on Wed Apr 3, 2013 2:02 PM EDT

Matthew Lloyd / Getty Images, file

London mayor Boris Johnson (right) and Irvine Sellar, developer of the new skyscraper The Shard, cut a ribbon.

LONDON -- He is the goofy London mayor whose jovial self-deprecation and quick intellect have rescued him from a string of political missteps and personal indignities. But floppy-haired Boris Johnson’s happy-go-lucky reputation took a battering this week, just as he revealed his ambition to one day become Britain’s prime minister.

New York-born Johnson -- memorably caught on camera dangling from a broken zip-wire during the London Olympics -- was accused of being a “nasty piece of work” in a train-wreck television interview that surfaced a darker side to his persona.

The mayor was asked about a number of embarrassing episodes in his past including being fired from his former job as a reporter with The Times newspaper for making up a quote, losing his opposition cabinet role after lying to his Conservative party leader about an affair and the accusation that he agreed to provide a reporter’s address to his friend, a convicted fraudster, so the journalist could be beaten up.

There were no new revelations in Sunday’s interview, which was hardly in the mold of Frost vs Nixon. But the feline approach of BBC presenter Eddie Mair exposed a testy, evasive side to Johnson that observers say has undermined his affable public image.

“What’s remarkable is not that the interview happened but the fact that it hasn’t happened before,” said Johnson’s biographer, Sonia Purnell.

“He has always used his jovial fellow act and has never really been challenged like that in an interview until now.

“It is true that he is very charismatic, very clever and engaging. But there is a dark side to his character. He has a ferocious temper and he bears grudges.”

The clash was in stark contrast to Johnson’s winning encounter on “Late Show with David Letterman” last year, when he entertained the studio audience and shrugged the gibe that he cut his own hair.

It has sparked a debate in Britain about whether the mayor, a keen cyclist and classical scholar whose full name is Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson -- can still be taken seriously as a contender to replace David Cameron as prime minister and leader of his Conservative party.

Mair teased Johnson about his repeated refusal to admit that he harbors ambitions to replace Cameron, with whom he has a mild personal rivalry that dates back to their shared time at Eton, Britain’s most elite private school.

Jan Kruger / Getty Images, file

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron and Mayor of London Boris Johnson warm up for a tennis match during the London Olympics.

“What should viewers make of your inability to give a straight answer to a straight question?" asked Mair, adding: “You’re a nasty piece of work, aren’t you?”

An online Guardian newspaper poll found 62 percent of its readers thought Johnson could no longer be considered a candidate for Britain’s top job. The interview “was inevitably described as a car crash, but in the case of Johnson, it was more of a bicycle crash: spokes all over the road, wheels mangled and a reputation badly dented,” wrote the newspaper’s veteran political editor, Patrick Wintour.

Purnell added: “I think it left a tidemark in people’s minds about Boris’s character.”

However, conservative commentator Toby Young said Johnson’s leadership prospects remain unchanged. “It's an elementary rule of politics that if you have any skeletons lurking in your closet that are likely to make an appearance during an election campaign, better to get them out in the open now,” he wrote in the Daily Telegraph. “Not only will it rob them of their bad juju, it will enable his supporters to claim -- yet again -- that he's popular in spite of his character flaws, not because the public isn't aware of them.”

Matthew Norman, in The Independent, asked: “Boris would be a disastrous PM. So why do I quite like the idea?” He wrote: “Life for diarists and political pundits would improve immeasurably, which strikes me as a very reasonable price to pay for the national shame of having Boris Johnson as prime minister.”

Johnson, 48, has long been a grassroots favorite to lead the Conservatives if Cameron stood down or lost office. However, to be prime minister he would first need to stand again for election to the House of Commons, which he quit in 2008 to run to be mayor of London. He is currently serving his second four-year term and has remained coy about whether he will quit early and return to parliament.

His mix of conservative economics and liberal social values -- he supports gay marriage and an amnesty for immigrants -- helped secure his election in a city long dominated by left-of-center politics, but it may not sit well with the U.K.-wide Conservative party.

His personal morality may also hinder his progress: He has acknowledged a number of affairs and has been likened to Italy’s serial philanderer and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi by satirical magazine editor Ian Hislop.

Then there is Johnson’s apparent lack of attention to detail. Purnell, who worked alongside him in the Brussels bureau of the Daily Telegraph, said: “Some of the things he wrote were on the limits of the truth. He was, at best, creative.”

Max Hastings, a former editor of Johnson's during his time as a journalist, described Johnson as "utterly chaotic," adding: "Supposing he became prime minister, the idea of Boris Johnson's finger on the nuclear button ... one day he would get it mixed up with the one to call the maid."

However, there remains a lot of affection for a man whose unvarnished approach is a breath of political fresh air.

“He is a sunshine politician and people like that,” said Ross Lydall, chief news correspondent of London’s Evening Standard newspaper, which supports Johnson.

“The way he has improved life for cyclists in London is remarkable -- as a cyclist myself, it certainly puts a smile on my face. He represents a sense of optimism compared to the old, miserable municipal politics of London.”