London, Feb 27 (IANS): Two men who hacked a British soldier to death on a London street last year were sentenced to life in prison and a minimum of 45 years in jail, respectively, by a British court.

Michael Adebolajo, 29, was handed a whole-life term while Michael Adebowale, 22, is to be jailed for at least 45 years for killing Fusilier Lee Rigby, a 25-year-old British soldier, Xinhua reported.

Lee Rigby was attacked by Adebolajo and Adebowale with a butcher's knife and cleaver near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich in southeast London last May.

The assailants later said they had attacked the off-duty soldier to avenge the deaths of Muslims at the hands of British troops.

"This was a murder with a terrorist connection," the judge said at the court, describing the killing as "sickening and pitiless".

The murder sparked a string of protests last year, with thousands of British residents and veterans taking to the streets to call for an end to the extremist attacks and hate crimes.

"Extremist behaviour of any kind will never be tolerated in Britain. While nothing can reverse the appalling crime committed on the streets of Woolwich last May, the significant sentences handed down today reflect this," Britain's Home Secretary Theresa May said.