A tree surgeon accused of being part of a hooded mob that attacked Kingston Mosque has said he was a happy go lucky man who did not know there was a mosque in the town.
Terry Earl, 32, is on trial along with eight other men who all deny being part of a mob that attacked the mosque with beer bottles and sticks on Sunday, November 21, 2010.
Prosecutor Gopal Hooper asked him if it was “complete coincidence” he had walked from the King’s Tun pub after an English Defence League rally to the mosque in East Road.
He asked: “Why did you turn into East Road?”
Mr Earl, of Northolt, replied: “I don’t know. I’m a happy go lucky guy. I didn’t know where I was going.”
He said he did not know there was a mosque in Kingston.
Asked why CCTV showed him at the front of about 15 to 20 people walking in Richmond Road towards the mosque, he said: “I wasn’t leading them in any way whatsoever.”
He told the court he dropped behind the to help an elderly woman, saying: “I remember there was an old lady struggling to get up the kerb with her shopping trolley and I put my arm up to help her get up the kerb.”
He said that after witnessing the attack: “My legs were like jelly. I didn’t have a clue. I was worried for my safety.”
Mr Earl told the court he was wearing gloves because of a hand injury and did not know why he took his coat off after the attack but denied it was to disguise him from CCTV.
Builder David Morris, 22, from Epsom, refused to answer some questions during his cross-examination.
Leading Judge Georgina Kent to warn him three times about the inferences the jury may take from his no comment.
Mr Morris told the court he picked up bacon from Tesco Metro “for a joke”. He said: “Obviously it was a march against Islamic extremism and they don’t eat bacon.”
When he went back to the King’s Tun other people threw the bacon around and he did not see it again, he told the court.
He was also asked about a photo on his mobile phone which showed co-defendant Alfie Wallace and another unidentified man in East Road holding sticks.
Asked why he took it and what the men intended to do with the sticks he said: “I don’t know.”
Mr Earl, Mr Morris, Martin Pottle, 23, of Feltham, Alfie Wallace, 19, of Shepperton, Adam Khalfan, 19, of Ashford, Paul Abley, 24, of Shepperton, Karl Matthews, 21, of Brentford, Jordan Ellingham, 21,of Feltham, and James Stacey, 19, of Shepperton, all deny violent disorder, affray and racially-aggravated damage.
The trial continues.
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