Arif Biomy, left, and victim Alex Smith

A TEENAGER has been found guilty of murdering a 16-year-old from Holloway in what the prosecuting barrister described as a gang-related “tit-for-tat” revenge attack.

An Inner London Crown Court jury on Tuesday found Arif Biomy, 19, guilty of killing Alex Smith on the Regent’s Park estate last summer.

The court heard, however, that three other men also believed to have been involved are thought to have fled to East Africa while a fourth suspect’s whereabouts is unknown.

A serious case review has been launched by Brent Council, the borough Alex was moved to in what is thought to have been a safeguarding measure.

Islington Council will feed into this process, as it is the borough where he grew up. Serious case reviews are conducted by local authorities to identify ways professionals and organisations can improve the way they work together to safeguard children.

The court had heard how Alex had been stabbed on two separate occasions before he was killed in August last year.

He was first knifed in Ambler Road near Finsbury Park in May 2018 and again a year later in Byworth Walk near the Elthorne estate in Upper Holloway.

It is understood that he was moved to Wembley to get him away from suspected gang activity in Islington.

He had been attending Acland Burghley School in Tufnell Park, where he had been described as a “bright and witty boy”.

A tribute mural painted close to the scene of the murder

The court heard how Alex had only started affiliating himself with the so-called Cumbo gang, based around the Regent’s Park estate, for a few weeks before he was killed in Munster Square, Camden.

He had been chased by three boys, believed to be members of the Agar Grove gang, who were driven to the scene in two stolen cars – a Ford Fiesta and a Seat Leon.

Mr Biomy was driving the Seat Leon, the jury had been told.

The defendant himself was almost killed two months before Alex’s death when he was stabbed in the chest while sitting in a car in St Pancras Way, Camden Town.

The police believe Mr Biomy had been involved with gangs since he was aged 11, the court heard.

He had been associated with the Cumbo gang but later he became a member of Agar Grove, the prosecuting barrister Brian O’Neill said.

The Agar Grove gang has a long-running dispute with the Cumbo and P-Block gangs which has resulted in numerous stabbings and shootings in the past three years including a night of “mayhem and murder” in Camden which saw two young men killed hours apart in 2018, Mr O’Neill added.

Speaking to Mr Biomy as he gave evidence, Mr O’Neill said: “You and your friends have lived by the knife for a number of years.”

CCTV shown during the trial revealed that Mr Biomy did not ever leave the car he was driving on the night Alex was killed.

But the prosecution argued that Mr Biomy “was a key member of the group who killed Alex”, giving him “joint responsibility” for the murder.

Yusuf Yusuf, 19, from West Hampstead, pleaded guilty to assisting an offender as he helped burn the cars.

Mr Biomy refused to name the men who had been in the cars with him on the night Alex was murdered, telling the court that they, or their friends, may target his family.

A police spokesman said: “Detectives continue to investigate the murder, and strenuous efforts are being made to bring the four outstanding suspects to face justice.”

Mr Yusuf and Mr Biomy will be sentenced on March 12.

In the days after Alex’s death, a tribute mural was painted close to the scene of the attack, depicting him on a bike with angel wings. Friends were upset when Camden Council later painted over it.