Boy, 16, 'hacked Marks & Spencer shop assistant, 22, to death in brutal gang alleyway attack as he walked home from his shift'

Anthony Adekola, 22, was walking home from his shift in Colindale, north west London when he was stabbed to death

A supermarket shop assistant was hacked to death in an unprovoked attack, the Old Bailey heard today.

Anthony Adekola, 22, was walking home from his shift at Marks and Spencer in the early evening of September 5, when a gang leapt out of two taxis and dragged him down an alleyway in Colindale, north west London.

The court heard how unarmed Adekola was stabbed nine times and was almost certainly dead when paramedics arrived.

A 16-year-old boy appeared on video-link at the Old Bailey today from HM Cookham Wood charged with his murder.

Tom Doble prosecuting said: ‘On 5 September 2020, a group of young men travelling by taxi from Hendon to Colindale set off shortly after 8.42pm.

‘Arriving half an hour later seven young men stepped out of the two taxis and the drivers were told to wait.

‘Anthony Adekola 22 at the time, was walking home back from the Colindale branch of Marks and Spencer.’

The 16-year-old boy who cannot be named for legal reasons appeared by video link at the Old Bailey earlier today

Mr Adekola saw the attackers and began to run away but tripped over a bollard and was eventually dragged into an alleyway, prosecutors claim.

He was discovered at 11.05pm and the police were called. 

Mr Doble added: ‘He had been stabbed nine times by more than one knife in the view of the expert...in an entirely unprovoked brutal and fatal attack.’

For legal reasons the 16-year-old cannot be named, but two other teenagers Christian Medina, 19, and Tajuan Suburan, 18, have also been remanded in custody over the killing.

Judge John Hillen set a plea and trial preparation hearing for 4 December but no provisional trial date has been fixed 

The youth from Hendon, Medina and Suburan both from New Brent Street, also Hendon, are all charged with murder.