Man convicted over death of tortured radio DJ

A man has been found guilty of killing a radio DJ who was kidnapped and "horrifically tortured" near Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Dylan Weatherley, 20, from Tottenham, north London, was found guilty on Wednesday of Mehmet Koray Alpergin's manslaughter, kidnap and false imprisonment.

Mr Alpergin and his girlfriend Gozde Dalbudak were snatched as they returned home from an Italian restaurant in Mayfair, central London, in October 2022.

Weatherley is due to be sentenced on 5 September at the Old Bailey.

The court heard the couple were taken to a wine bar backing on to White Hart Lane, where 43-year-old Mr Alpergin, a father of two, was attacked.

His body was dumped in Essex woodland. Ms Dalbudak, 34, spent two days locked in a toilet before being freed by her captors.

A post-mortem examination revealed 94 separate injuries to Mr Alpergin's body.

Prosecutor Crispin Aylett KC had told jurors: "It is obvious that, before his death, Koray Alpergin had been stripped naked and horrifically tortured."

Mr Alpergin, who was originally from Northern Cyprus, owned a Turkish language radio station in London - Bizim FM - and was a well-known and popular figure within the Turkish community in the UK, the court was told.

The prosecution alleged that Weatherley was one of eight men who drove in two vehicles - a white van and a Volkswagen Polo - to the scene of the kidnapping.

Weatherley was cleared of offences relating to Ms Dalbudak's abduction.

Bulgarian painter and decorator Isay Stoyanov, 44, from Seven Sisters in north London, also appeared at the Old Bailey on Wednesday over his part in the killing and was convicted of perverting the course of justice.

The pair will be sentenced alongside Kyrie Mitchell-Peart, 32, from Barnet, who has pleaded guilty to the kidnap and false imprisonment of Mr Alpergin and Ms Dalbudak.

Following a separate trial last year, four other men were convicted over their roles.

Tejean Kennedy, 33, and Ali Kavak, 26, were found guilty of the kidnap and false imprisonment of the couple and Mr Alpergin's manslaughter.

Kennedy was jailed for 20 years and Kavak for 13 years.

Samuel Owusu-Opoku, 36, was found guilty of two counts of kidnap, while Steffan Gordon, 35, had admitted kidnap and was found guilty of two counts of false imprisonment.

Kavak was also convicted of perverting the course of justice by helping to dispose of Mr Alpergin's body and destroying two vehicles by fire. Owusu-Opoku admitted the charge.

Owusu-Opoku was jailed for seven years, Gordon for eight years and Yigit Hurman, 19, from Muswell Hill, north London, was jailed for two years after he admitted perverting the course of justice.

Two more suspects are said to be still at large and are believed to have fled abroad.

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