Millad Golmakani was stabbed to death last April

Victim is believed to have been targeted as part of postcode war between rival gangs

Sean Ferdinand

Four teenagers have been locked up for life for stabbing a man to death in a suspected ‘postcode gang’ attack.

Millad Golmakani, 22, from Swiss Cottage, died after he was chased and knifed as he played football on the Abbey estate in Kilburn in April 20 last year.

His 17-year-old friend Zain Salahuddin was also stabbed but survived.

Yesterday at the Old Bailey, Sean Ferdinand and Sean Hutton, both 19, 17-year-old Lij McSween, all from Camden, and Mohammed Hashi, 19, from Enfield, north London, were convicted of murder and attempted murder.

Mohammed Hashi

No motive was ever given for the attack during the trial but it is thought to be related to a long-running feud between members of the Queen’s Crescent gang, to which the attackers belonged, and their rivals Sin City, from Swiss Cottage.

Jurors heard the victims had been with friends at a basketball court on the estate when they were approached by the suspects, hooded and wearing balaclavas and armed with knives.

They were both chased and Mr Golmakani was knifed 14 times in the neck, back and buttocks.

Mr Salahuddin was stabbed twice in the arm but managed to seek refuge in a nearby grocery shop.

Sean Hutton

Hashi, Ferdinand and Hutton were all sentenced to life with a minimum tariff of 22 years.

They were also given 17 years to run concurrently, for the attempted murder.

McSween was sentenced to life with a minimum of 19 years and 14 years, to run concurrently for the attempted murder.

Detective Inspector Simon Pickford, investigating officer, said: “This was a brutal and premeditated attack which resulted in the unnecessary loss of a young man’s life and life-changing injuries to another.

Lij McSween

“There is no doubt that if you carry, or are part of a group which carries and uses a knife, you will be arrested, and if convicted, go to prison for a very long time.”