Bermondsey boy Ben Purdy was killed after his girlfriend’s jilted ex organised a revenge attack to hunt down the teenage plumber, the Old Bailey heard yesterday.
Michael Bagnall, 22, organised the attack on 18-year-old Ben to ‘teach him a lesson’ after he started dating his ex-girlfriend Ashley, it is said.
Bagnall, from Rotherhithe, allegedly recruited his uncle, Andrew Bayne, 37, his cousin Reece Bayne, 19, and a 17-year-old, who cannot be named, to track down Ben and his friends.
When they did, Andrew Bayne shot Ben in the head and threatened to gun down one of his friends, the court heard.
Prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC said: “It looks as though Ashley and Michael had split up in July last year and in September Ashley had started going out with Ben Purdy. Albeit Michael appears to have found a new girlfriend, it must have rankled with him that Ashley was seeing Ben Purdy.
“Over a period of weeks leading up to the shooting of Ben Purdy, the prosecution alleges that Michael Bagnall was repeatedly abusive towards Ashley and sent threatening messages over the telephone and on Facebook. After things had gone on for some time, Ben had had enough.”
He enlisted two friends, Callum Malone and Jack Walker, to confront Michael Bagnall on November 23 last year, arming themselves with a motorbike chain and a metal pole.
However, when they arrived at the Silwood Estate, they were chased away by Michael Bagnall, his sister Lee-Ann Bagnall, 19, and another uncle, Anthony Bayne, 34, the court heard.
Mr Aylett said that Lee-Ann was brandishing a mace during the “skirmish”.
“This was undoubtedly a very stupid thing to have set out to do and it cost Ben Purdy his life”, said Mr Aylett of the decision to confront the Bagnalls. “Ben and his friends fled at the first sign of real violence from the Bagnalls. The prosecution alleges that Michael Bagnall decided Ben needed to be taught a lesson.”
The court heard Bagnall recruited Andrew and Reece Bayne and the 17-year-old who all set out to “hunt down” Ben Purdy in a car.
Mr Aylett said: “Those four in that car all knew about the gun and they were all party to a joint enterprise, a common purpose, a plan to hunt Ben and his friends in order that the gun might be used to cause really serious harm to someone if not actually to kill them.
“When they found Ben and his friends only a few minutes later, Andrew Bayne fired the gun at Ben Purdy’s head, and Ben sustained fatal injuries.”
Mr Aylett said Andrew and Reece Bayne then chased after Ben’s friends, catching up with Callum.
“Reece Bayne hit him with the truncheon and Andrew Bayne put the gun to Callum’s face and told him to open his mouth,” he said.
“Andrew Bayne was thinking about shooting Callum as well, but Reece Bayne realised Ben Purdy had been hit and he called out to Andrew Bayne ‘We need to go, he’s dying’”.
Paramedics and police were called to the incident, in Mossington Gardens, at around 1.55pm.
Ben was pronounced dead in hospital the following day.
Michael Bagnall and Andrew Bayne, of Alpine Road, Rotherhithe, Reece Bayne, of Concorde Way, also in Rotherhithe, and the 17-year-old, all deny murder.
Michael Bagnall, Lee-Ann Bagnall and Anthony Bayne, both also of Alpine Road, Rotherhithe, all deny affray.
Michael Bagnall, Reece Bayne, and the 17-year-old all deny conspiracy to commit assault occasioning ABH.
Andrew Bayne denies possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
The trial continues.