Teen Admits Murder Over Bike Row

22 October 2014, 11:11 | Updated: 22 October 2014, 11:13

A 16-year-old boy has pleaded guilty to murdering another teenager in south London in a row over the sale of a £90 bicycle on the second day of his Old Bailey trial.

The youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, knifed 17-year-old Alim Uddin seven times at a block of flats in Brixton on May 4 this year.

Alim had gone to meet him to ask for his money back after he handed over £90 for a bike the defendant failed to deliver, the court heard.

The boy had denied murder but changed his plea to guilty after hearing the prosecution case against him.

Judge Richard Kramer remanded him in custody to be sentenced on November 12.

Opening the case on Monday, prosecutor David Jeremy QC said : "This defendant stabbed Alim Uddin to death. The reason, if there can be a reason, was that Alim Uddin had given (the defendant) £90 to buy a bicycle from him.

"(The defendant) did not provide the bicycle and he did not give his cash back so the two of them arranged to meet so, as Alim Uddin understood it, he could be repaid.

"He was angry that (the defendant) had ripped him off. There were on both sides expressions of youthful bravado but nothing that suggested it would lead to a killing.

"The friends of Alim Uddin described the two boys as being wary of each other but said Alim was not angry or expecting a fight. He just wanted his money back."

The victim went alone to meet the other boy at Tilford House in Brixton, south London, leaving his friends in a nearby park.

Just before 5pm on May 4, a resident at the block of flats heard a "thud" and discovered Alim collapsed on his doorstep. He was pronounced dead at King's College Hospital an hour later.

A post mortem examination found seven incised wounds - four to the front of his chest, one to the lower back, one to the shoulder and one to the thigh.

Mr Jeremy said: "The stab wounds suffered by Alim Uddin and the complete lack of injury suffered by (the defendant) paints a clear picture of how Alim Uddin came to his death."

After the murder, the defendant tried to distance himself from what he had done, the court heard.

He was caught on CCTV going home and then leaving a short time later carrying a bag and wearing a different top bound for his great aunt's house in Tooting, south west London.

But when police searched his home, they discovered a blood stained sweatshirt with DNA matching Alim's on it, the jury was told.

The defendant had also taken clothes to a launderette in Tooting, but finding it closed, had soaked another top and a pair of jeans in the bath, the court heard.

Police found the clothes after they tracked down the defendant at the second address, with a black bag, which contained the murder weapon with the handle wrapped in a glove, the court heard.

Mr Jeremy said: "He is painfully young, he is a boy of 16, but he is obviously highly forensically aware."