One of the men accused of murdering the soldier Lee Rigby has chosen not to give evidence in his trial, the Old Bailey has heard.
Jurors were told not to draw any adverse inference from the decision of Michael Adebowale, 22, not to testify in his defence.
The judge, Mr Justice Sweeney, told jurors in the Woolwich murder trial on Friday that the evidence stage of the trial was complete.
He said: "It means the second defendant [Adebowale] has chosen neither to give nor to call any evidence. May I direct you straight away that you are not to draw any inference adverse to him from the fact that he has chosen not to give evidence."
Adebowale and his co-accused, Michael Adebolajo, 28, deny murdering Rigby as the soldier walked to his military barracks in Woolwich on 22 May. They also deny conspiracy to murder a police officer and attempted murder of a police officer.
Adebowale sat alongside Adebolajo in a glass dock in the centre of court, flanked by a number of prison guards, for the hearing on Friday afternoon.
Sweeney told jurors that the trial was on course to conclude before Christmas.
The jury heard earlier in the trial that Adebowale stabbed at Rigby's body while his accomplice, Adebolajo, attempted to decapitate the soldier.
Rigby was hit by a Vauxhall Tigra driven by Adebolajo before the pair attacked his motionless body with knives, including a meat cleaver and butcher's knife, the jury has heard.
Adebolajo admitted in evidence on Monday that he killed the 25-year-old fusilier but denies it was murder because he was acting as a "soldier of Allah" who must "fight those militaries that attack the Muslims".
"We planned a military attack which obviously involved – sadly, it's not something enjoyable – the death of a soldier," Adebolajo told jurors on Monday.
The trial continues.
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