Cemeren Yilmaz: Four guilty of Snapchat video gang murder

Cemeren Yilmaz, 16, suffered massive internal injuries, a fractured skull and brain damage

Four gang members who filmed the murder of a 16-year-old boy for social media have been found guilty.

Cemeren Yilmaz was stabbed in the kidney and attacked with a hammer while being filmed for a Snapchat video.

Aaron Miller, 20, and three boys aged 15, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had denied the 16 September murder at St Albans Crown Court.

The four were linked to the "Black Tom" gang in Bedford, rivals to the "Mile Road" gang Cemeren was connected to.

Prosecutor Stuart Trimmer QC told the court: "This is a case some might find grotesque and some might find shocking."

The teenager, known as Gem, had told his brother he expected to be attacked because of the hostility between the two groups.

He was chased down a street by Miller, of Tavistock Street, Bedford, and one of the boys, and punched.

Cemeren Yilmaz died the day after being stabbed near Ashmead Road

As he lay on the ground he was stabbed with a large knife, causing a severe injury to his kidney.

Moments later, two other members of the gang arrived and began hitting Cemeren in the head and face with a hammer, while one filmed on his mobile phone.

Cemeren died the next day after surgery to remove a kidney, having suffered massive internal injuries, a fractured skull, brain damage and two cardiac arrests.

'Defending my people'

The Snapchat video formed a key part of the prosecution case, showing that two gang members had used a hammer to attack Cemeren.

But police also recorded a conversation between two of the defendants in the van after their arrest, which revealed the knife and hammer attack was a plan to "end him off".

One of the defendants was heard to say: "Gem done so much wrong [...] He done wrong to like our people, innit, and in the Bible it says defend your people, does it not?

"It says love your neighbour and my neighbour is my people, innit, so if I'm defending my people, it wasn't supposed to go that far."

He added: "Just defending my people [...] It's not like I end him off for no reason."

The trial had earlier heard that Cemeren and his friends had had an altercation with the rival gang members earlier on the day of the attack.

The group had run at one of the 15-year-olds, standing near a damaged motorcycle in Ashmead Road with two other youths, causing them to flee.

He was then seen on CCTV running away clutching a bag, which the prosecutor suggested could have motivated his attackers "to exact revenge".

The judge ordered reports to be written before the four are sentenced.