Two teenagers found guilty of fatally stabbing a fellow teen after ambushing him in Chingford have been jailed.

The attackers, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were both 16 at the time of the incident and appeared at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Friday (March 22) where they were sentenced to eighteen years in prison each.

They reportedly refused to answer any questions by Metropolitan Police, but detectives pieced together conclusive evidence using mobile phone data and CCTV footage to determine the events of the night.

A probe was launched after officers were called at around 9.20pm on April 10 last year to Longshaw Road where 17-year-old Chima Osuji was found collapsed on the pavement with stab injuries.

Despite the efforts of the police, paramedics and members of the public who provided first aid, Chima died at the scene.

Read More: Chingford fatal stabbing: Teens convicted of murder

Initial CCTV enquiries revealed that two males had carried out the attack. Chima, the police said, was with another teenager at the time who managed to flee unharmed and was able to assist the police in identifying one of the suspects.

Officers also recovered a sword at the scene which, while not used in the murder, contained fingerprint of the other teenage attacker.

Met police revealed that the teens, after spending the evening together, took a minicab to Longshaw Road and waited with knives using the cover parked vans.

When an unsuspecting Chima, who was said to be lured to the location by a third party, arrived at the place he was ambushed by the two.

The pair were believed to have fled to a waiting cab within seconds of the murder.

The driver, the police added, recalled the two attackers being in jubilant mood while they left Chima dying on the pavement.

Both teenagers were arrested within three days and officers seized their mobile phones, the data from which suggested that it was a planned attack.

The police also traced the pair’s movements to the murder scene and in the hours after the fatal stabbing.

Neither of them, the force said, admitted why they killed Chima, but the evidence gathered made it clear that it was not a chance encounter.

Detective Chief Inspector Larry Smith, from the Met’s homicide team, who led the investigation said: “By methodically unpicking the events leading up to the attack on Chima, we could establish both teenagers conspired to carry out this cowardly assault.

“Neither of them has ever admitted why they carried out this attack. From the evidence gathered it is clear this was not a chance encounter but a planned act of violence that had catastrophic consequences”.