Killers who stabbed Tory party activist’s son to death when they mistook him for gang rival as he popped to Waitrose are found guilty of his murder
- Rashid Gedel, 22, and Shiroh Ambersley, 22, stabbed Sven Badzak, 22, to death
- They have now been found guilty at the Old Bailey and are facing life sentences
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Two killers who stabbed the son of a Tory party activist to death when they mistook him for a gang rival as he popped out to Waitrose are facing life sentences.
Aspiring lawyer Sven Badzak, 22, was set upon by a gang of six youths and murdered in an an attack lasting just 20 seconds.
Rashid Gedel, 22, and Shiroh Ambersley, 22, stabbed Mr Badzak four times while kicking and punching him and stabbed his 16-year-old friend in the back.
Former Conservative Party activist Jasna Badzak said her son had gone to Waitrose to get orange juice when he was attacked in Willesden, northwest London.
Mr Badzak, who was privately educated at Wetherby and Portland Place schools before attending Roehampton University, could not be saved despite the best efforts of passers-by, paramedics and police.
Aspiring lawyer Sven Badzak (pictured), 22, was set upon by a gang of six youths and murdered in an an attack lasting just 20 seconds
Former Conservative Party activist Jasna Badzak (pictured) said her son had gone to Waitrose to get orange juice when he was attacked in Willesden, northwest London
His friend, now 19, did not feel that he had been stabbed in the back and managed to run into a Tesco store in Willesden Lane to scream for help. He was later treated for a collapsed lung.
Gedel was identified by CCTV and the boasts he made on social media accounts after the attack.
He has 13 convictions for offences including of robbery four of possession of a knife, possession of counterfeit currency, threatening behaviour and assault.
Meanwhile, Ambersley claimed he was not intending to hurt Mr Badzak but was chasing him because he wanted to sell him cocaine.
He has ten previous convictions for offences including affray and possession of a knife. Gedel and Ambersley denied but were convicted of murdering Mr Badzak.
They were also convicted of wounding his teenage friend with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, but cleared of attempting to murder him, after the month-long Old Bailey trial.
Jasna Badzak, the UK Independence Party candidate for the Westminster North seat in the 2010 election, at her home in W10, with son Sven in 2010
READ MORE: Tory activist’s family’s fury after trial of three men accused of murdering her son, 22, is postponed for nearly a YEAR because of strike action and defence barristers’ pre-booked holidays
The jury took 25 hours and 46 minutes to reach its guilty verdicts by a majority of 10-to-two.
Gedel chose not to come to court to hear the verdicts today.
Judge John Dodd, KC, ordered pre-sentence reports and said: ‘They are young men who are both about to begin very long periods of imprisonment.’
Harvey Canavan, 19, admitted the manslaughter of Mr Badzak and unlawful wounding of his friend at the start of the trial.
He has six convictions for offences including robbery and wounding and at the time of the killing he was on on bail for robbery and wounding.
Lior Agbayan, also said to have been involved in the attack, fled abroad after the stabbing and his extradition to the UK is being sought. Two other suspects have not yet been identified by police.
The killers were member of the SK, also known as the South Kilburn gang.
Their victim had been pictured Boris Johnson, David Cameron and George Osborne as a child.
Mr Badzak (right) had been pictured Boris Johnson, David Cameron and George Osborne as a child
Prosecutor Anthony Orchard, KC, earlier told the jury: ‘On Saturday 6th February 2021 at 17:37, Sven Badzak and his friend were walking west along Willesden Lane, in Kilburn.
‘As they walked, they were attacked by a group of six youths, in what appears to have been a gang style attack.
‘Both Sven Badzak and [his friend] were stabbed. Sven Badzak was pronounced life extinct at 18:28 that evening. Neither victim was a gang member or associate. It appears they were the unfortunate victims of mistaken identity.
‘After the stabbings, the attackers ran off. Rashid Gedel and Shiroh Ambersley were the first two of six attackers.
‘Both have been identified from CCTV footage and by boasts made by Gedel on his social media accounts after the attack.’
Mr Badzak’s friend said in a police interview played to the court: ‘Sven was stabbed and I was then stabbed.
The court heard that a bus CCTV camera recorded some of what happened next as Gedel and Ambersley caught up with Mr Badzak (pictured is an image of him from social media) and his friend
‘It was like a normal kitchen knife, like a proper cutting knife. All three of them had knives, but I remember one went through me. I knew he had a knife, but I didn’t actually feel it.
‘I didn’t know if it went through [me] I just ran. I just ran across the road to Tesco. I ran straight through to the counter and I said I’d been stabbed, screaming for help.
‘The guy on the counter brought me round the back. The security man brought me to his office and then lay me down and called an ambulance.’
The teenager said he regularly played football in the neighbourhood, adding: ‘There’s never been any trouble down there before. I’ve never seen those people before.’
On the day of the attack, Gedel and Ambersley went into a Wenzel’s Bakery near Willesden Lane.
Mr Orchard said: ‘Gedel is captured on CCTV going into the shop, walking up the right of the two young people and apparently inspecting them, before leaving. He then rejoins Amersley, nothing at all was bought.
Mr Badzak (pictured) also tried to run away but fell
‘We suggest Gedel and Ambersley were looking for a youth or youths for the group they were with to attack – scouting them out.’
Mr Badzak had been to Waitrose on Finchley Road about a mile away and his friend was watching a Liverpool football game on his phone when they were spotted by the group on Willesden Lane.
‘Gedel drew closer to them,’ said Mr Orchard. Sven Badzak and his friend were effectively minding their own business. They were completely unaware of those behind them.
‘As Gedel got closer, Ambersley crossed the road to join him, followed seconds later by the other four in the group.
‘A bus CCTV camera recorded some of what happened next. Gedel and Ambersley caught up with Sven Badzak and his friend close to the red post box outside 22 Willesden Lane.
‘Bus CCTV, Route 98, as the bus moves off, shows Gedel and Ambersley a few feet away from Badzak and his friend.
‘Sven Badzak and his friend were attacked. Badzak’s friend recalls three boys came up to them and said, ‘What are you on?’
‘One of the boys then stabbed Sven in the chest and his friend was stabbed to the back.
‘Having been stabbed the friend ran west along Willesden Lane, chased by, he thought, three males. In total he recalls six attackers. All six acted together.’
Mr Badzak also tried to run away but fell.
‘Sven Badzak, having been stabbed, managed to run as far as the outside of X Burger before he collapsed.
‘His attackers caught him again outside X Burger on Willesden Lane. Sven Badzak was on the ground.
‘It appears he was kicked and punched. During the totality of the attack, he is stabbed four times. His phone falls to the ground, but no attacker attempted to retrieve it. The attack on Sven Badzak lasted no more than about twenty seconds.’
Gedel, of Ilford, east London, and Ambersley, of Wembley, northwest London, both denied but were convicted of murder, attempted murder and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Canavan, of West Kilburn, admitted manslaughter and unlawful wounding.
Speaking after Sven’s death, Jasna, 51, said her son always wanted to help others and donated some of his clothes to survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire.
As a doctor he had asked her to teach him first aid in case someone collapsed in the street after a heart attack or a stabbing, she said.
As a Tory party activist she called on then Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other politicians to help her to get justice for her son.
She posted pictures online of Sven as a boy with Johnson, George Osborne and David Cameron.
Judge Dodd is expected to fix a sentence date later today.
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