Mehmet Koray Alpergin: Kidnappers jailed for killing DJ

Tejean Kennedy, right, was jailed for 20 years and Ali Kavak, left, 13 years

Two men who killed a radio DJ in an empty bar near Tottenham Hotspur's stadium have been jailed.

Mehmet Koray Alpergin and his girlfriend Gozde Dalbudak were kidnapped in central London last October.

Mr Alpergin, 43, was beaten, throttled, burned and stabbed before his body was dumped in an Essex woodland.

Tejean Kennedy, 33, of Cricklewood Broadway, was jailed for 20 years and Ali Kavak, 26, of Tottenham, 13 years.

They had been found guilty of manslaughter, kidnap and false imprisonment after a trial at the same court, the Old Bailey, last month.

The Met Police said the circumstances of Mr Alpergin's death were "like something you see in a gangster movie".

"We cracked this case through painstaking and lengthy analysis of CCTV," said Det Ch Insp Matt Webb.

A post-mortem examination found that Mehmet Koray Alpergin had suffered 94 separate injuries

During the trial, the court was told Mr Alpergin and Ms Dalbudak were travelling home to Enfield from a restaurant Mayfair when they were snatched and taken to the Stadium Lounge wine bar, which backs on to White Hart Lane.

During the attack on 13 October 2022, Ms Dalbudak was locked in a toilet for two days before she was freed by her captors and given money for a taxi.

A post-mortem examination found that Mr Alpergin had suffered 94 separate injuries.

Reading a statement on behalf of Mr Alpergin's family at the Old Bailey, his cousin, Neliz Halil, spoke of their "indescribable pain".

Mr Alpergin, who was originally from Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus, was a well-known figure in the British Turkish community and owned a Turkish language radio station in London, Bizim FM.

'Organised crime'

Prosecutor Crispin Aylett KC had told jurors the normally "happy-go-lucky" DJ had seemed anxious and on edge in the days before his death.

The court heard he was heavily in debt, owing £32,405 for his Audi as well as other claims against him.

Judge Sarah Whitehouse KC said drugs were "at the heart" of the case, having heard evidence that it was related to "international organised crime".

She also jailed Samuel Owusu-Opoku, 35, who was found guilty of two counts of kidnap, for seven years.

Steffan Gordon, 34, who had admitted kidnap and was found guilty of two counts of false imprisonment, was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment.

Yigit Hurman, 18, from Muswell Hill, north London, who admitted perverting the course of justice, was sentenced to two years in jail.

Two more suspects are still at large and are believed to have fled abroad.

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