Youth denies murdering teenager in Leamington

The 16-year-old, who is from the Lewisham area of London but who cannot be named because of his age, pleaded not guilty at Warwick Crown Court to 17-year-old Nasir’s murder.

He also denied the attempted murder of a second young man who was also alleged to have been stabbed during the incident in Tachbrook Road, Leamington, on January 15.

The youth appeared in the dock alongside three other teenagers who face associated charges relating to the incident.

He and Richard Talawila, 18, of Northwick Avenue, Harrow, and Abraham Kombey ,18, from Erith, south-east London, but of no fixed address, pleaded not guilty to kidnapping a third alleged victim.

The three of them also denied a further charge of perverting the course of justice by allegedly disposing of or destroying evidence.

Another 16-year-old, from north-west London, also faces those two charges – but at the request of his barrister, who said there were issues which needed to be resolved, he was not arraigned.

Prosecutor Peter Grieves-Smith said that as a result of the police investigation, there were a total of 45 mobile phones and sim cards which needed to be examined.

Of those, 26 have been downloaded, of which seven have been found not to be relevant, and the remaining 19 were still to be downloaded.

In addition, more than 100 CCTV recordings had been obtained, of which ‘85 are still to be viewed,’ Mr Grieves-Smith pointed out, commenting “there is a great deal of work to be done".

Judge Andrew Lockhart QC said a date of June 8 had been set down for the trial, which is expected to last for four weeks, to begin.

And barristers for the four young defendants said they would be ready for trial by that date.

So Judge Lockhart adjourned the case for trial, with a pre-trial review hearing to take place in May, and all four were remanded in custody until then.