BEN KINSELLA TRIAL: three found guilty of killing brother of EastEnders starnlnews@archant.co.uk11 June 2009EASTENDERS star Brooke Kinsella wept as three thugs were today (Thursday) convicted of murdering her 16-year-old brother in a senseless knife attack that came to symbolise broken Britain.Jade Braithwaite, 20, Juress Kika, 19, and Michael Alleyne, 18, stabbed blameless Ben to death on a night out in north London.Ben was chased down the street, cornered by a van and knifed 11 times in five seconds as he pleaded: 'I've not done anything wrong.'The killing sparked a national outcry and led to a series of marches protesting against the knife crime blighting British cities.Ben had written to Gordon Brown weeks before his murder urging the Prime Minister to put an end to the cycle violence.Following his death Brooke Kinsella, who played Kelly Taylor in the TV soap, launched a campaign begging youths to lay down their weapons.Brooke, who is making a documentary about the case, sobbed in court as Ben's killers were convicted of murder by an Old Bailey jury today (Thurs).Ben's mother Deborah, 46, father George, 48, and daughters Brooke, Jade, Georgia, also wept as the verdicts were announced.Ben Kinsella was the 17th teenager to be murdered in London last year.His death followed the killings of Harry Potter actor Rob Knox, who was also stabbed to death on a night out, and gentle giant Jimmy Mizen, murdered in a baker's shop.The murder was the culmination of a petty row outside the Shillibeers Bar in Islington which started when one of the killers asked: 'What are you looking at?'Ben, of Barnsbury, Islington, was enjoying a peaceful drink inside when his friend Alfie was confronted by Braithwaite and his friend Osman Ozdemir in the early hours of June 29.Alfie told the court: "Someone was constantly staring at me. I just looked back and thought there was something wrong."I walked over and said 'Are you all right, have you got a problem with me?' He was like 'what's your problem?'After a war of words, Osman Ozdemir was heard threatening: "I'm going to kill him."Braithwaite was seen with his hands in his pockets as if he had a knife, as he shouted: "If you want it, I will give it to you," and "I'll stab people up".He also shouted: "Tell your boy if he wants trouble, I've got my tool on me and it will open you up."The fight spilled out of the bar and up to 30 youths attacked Ozdemir and his friends, leaving him with a gash to his head from a broken bottle.As the crowd dispersed Braithwaite, Kika and Alleyne regrouped and armed themselves with knives.Braithwaite stopped to tell one youth: "We are going to kill one of your boys tonight."Seconds later they spotted Ben walking with his friends down North Road to get a taxi.After a short chase, Ben, at the back of the group, was trapped between two parked cars.His friend Claudia, 16, sobbed as she told jurors: "The tall black boy [Braithwaite] booted him in the belly and he fell to the floor."The other two black boys came in closer and then circled him while he was on the floor and they started bending down and I thought they were punching him. But I couldn't see because it was between the cars."Ben didn't do one thing. Ben just said, 'Why are you coming over to me for? I haven't done anything wrong'. Seconds after he said that he was kicked.''Ben managed to get up and stagger away but collapsed into the arms of his friend Louis, the son of Birds Of A Feather actress Linda Robson.He was taken to The Whittington Hospital but died at 7am despite frantic efforts to save him.Prosecutor Nicholas Hilliard told the court: "No-one suggests Ben Kinsella was anything other than totally blameless."For some cruel and dreadful reason, Ben's attackers meant him to die."This was revenge for some earlier incident at Shillibeers, and purely for knowing Alfie, Ben was attacked."Mr Hilliard said knife crime was "out of control" and added: "This was not a war zone far away. This was Islington in June last year."Alleyne and Kika were arrested on June 30 at Alleyne's cousin's house in Chadwell Heath, Essex.When police arrived, the pair leapt out of the window and tried to flee over the rooftops but were quickly surrounded.Forensic examination of their clothing revealed a tiny trace of Ben's blood on Kika's belt and spots of blood on Alleyne's jeans.Braithwaite later turned himself in at Islington police station after hearing he was "wanted" by the legendary north London crime syndicate The Adams Family.The gang were said to be unhappy that the killing had taken place on their turf.Braithwaite told his co-defendants: "The family have got big money down. They would put money on whoever was involved heads."He said he heard that the Adams family's right-hand man wanted to speak to him.In his police interview he claimed he was just an innocent witness to the attack but later changed his story in court and admitted kicking Ben in the stomach.Braithwaite blamed his former friend Alleyne - nicknamed Tigger - for the stabbing.Alleyne's cousin also told police that both he and Kika had admitted "shanking" Ben Kinsella.The three killers were taped trying to "cook up" their stories and alibis in the back of a police car on the way to court.Braithwaite even offered cash to Alleyne and Kika to back up his story that he was not involved.Kika and Alleyne, both from the Islington area, and Braithwaite, from Bow, east London, all denied murder.The Common Serjeant of London, Judge Brian Barker will sentence the three killers tomorrow (Friday).Islington Gazette - BEN KINSELLA TRIAL: three found guilty of killing brother of EastEnders star
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