Teenager murdered less than two years after cousin’s killing, trial told

Two men have denied the murder of Ahmed Beker in west London.

Ahmed Beker who was stabbed to death in Paddington Green, London (Met Police/PA) (PA Media)

A teenager was stabbed to death less than two years after his cousin met the same fate on the streets of London, a court has heard.

Ahmed Beker was allegedly attacked by a group of four young men on stolen mopeds in Paddington Green, west London, on February 26 last year.

It came two months after the 19-year-old was allegedly slashed on the cheek with a “Rambo knife” after being identified as “Little D’s cousin”.

This was said to be a reference to his cousin Yousif Beker who was fatally stabbed outside a KFC restaurant on Edgware Road, near to Paddington Green, on September 10 2019.

The Old Bailey was told that Yousif Beker was linked to a gang known as the Lisson Green Men which was in rivalry with the Harrow Road Boys.

Ahmed Beker was not in a gang but the family connection led to him being targeted in December 2020, it was claimed.

At the time, Mr Beker told an officer that he had been approached by two males in dark clothing and balaclavas at Braithwaite Tower, less than a mile from Paddington Green.

He said they asked where he was from and then one queried if he was “Little D’s cousin” before producing a 12in-long Rambo knife which cut his face.

Mr Beker told police those responsible were “from Harrow Road”.

Jurors heard he did not want to make a statement or have his injury photographed for fear of more problems after what happened to his cousin Yousif.

At about 9.15pm on the day of his death, Mr Beker and another cousin, Ahmed Al-Shammry, were walking in Paddington Green when they were confronted by a group of young men armed with large knives, jurors heard.

The attackers, who had been on two mopeds, chased the cousins, the court was told.

Mr Al-Shammry ran into oncoming traffic and suffered minor injuries and escaped with his life but Mr Beker did not, said Jacob Hallam KC.

The prosecutor told jurors: “He was pursued and stabbed to death, in an attack that lasted for no more than a minute.

“His body showed the nature and extent of that attack: at least nine wounds caused by knives including one to his neck and one to his chest.

“He also had numerous cuts to his hands, a silent testament to his attempts to defend himself with the only thing available to him, his own body.”

“Inevitably, in a contest between a group of attackers armed with knives and a lone, unarmed, teenager using his hands, Ahmed Beker was always going to be on the losing side.

“He was overwhelmed by that armed group and killed by them, dying on the street.”

Mr Hallam said a painstaking investigation tracked the movements of the attackers on their mopeds from and to a residential area called the Amberley Estate in west London.

The stolen mopeds the group had used were dumped at the Grand Union Canal.

Jaden Forde and Omar Ahmed, both aged 19, were allegedly identified as two of the attackers through a combination of CCTV analysis, eyewitness accounts and telephone evidence.

Forde, known as KD, from Wembley, north London, and Ahmed, from Maida Vale, west London, have denied murder.

Jurors were told two other men had fled the country before being identified as suspects.