Youths guilty of station killing

16 May 2011 Last updated at 12:32 GMT Sofyen was chased to the ticket hall where he was stabbed repeatedly Five teenagers have been convicted of killing a 15-year-old boy at Victoria station in central London.

Sofyen Belamouadden, from Acton, west London, was chased and stabbed in the ticket hall of the Tube station.

Two teenagers have been found guilty of his murder in March 2010. Three others have been convicted of manslaughter.

The trial at the Old Bailey heard the rush-hour attack was planned on Facebook, and followed tensions between pupils from two west London schools.

'Merciless' attack

The trial heard some of the pupils saw the station as "home territory".

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So brazen and confident were his killers that they openly carried the various weapons that they used with them as they ran towards him and together hunted him down”

End Quote Mark Heywood QC Mark Heywood QC, prosecuting, said the "merciless" knife attack on the schoolboy took place in front of hundreds of commuters.

One member of the gang, Samuel Roberts, told the court that he joined in the violence on 25 March - captured on CCTV - simply because "everyone else was doing it".

Obi Nwokeh, 18, of Bermondsey, south-east London, and a 17-year-old were convicted of murder by unanimous jury verdicts.

Roberts, of Camberwell, south-east London, Adonis Akra, of Stockwell, of south London, both 18, and another 17-year-old were cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter.

Enoch Amoah, 18, of Camberwell, was cleared of both charges but convicted of violent disorder. All six defendants were found guilty of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm.

Sofyen was confronted by a group with a sword at Victoria station before being chased into the Tube station where he was stabbed nine times, including to the lung and chest.

Mr Heywood said: "He was given no chance of life.

"So brazen and confident were his killers that they openly carried the various weapons that they used with them as they ran towards him and together hunted him down."

A number of other youths are due to face separate trials over the killing. All defendants will be sentenced following the conclusion of these cases.

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