THREE brothers accused of killing a teenager in a so-called honour killing are lying to escape jail, a court heard.

Tulay Goren, 15, disappeared from her home in Glastonbury Avenue, Woodford Green, in January 1999.

Police believe the Woodbridge High School pupil was killed because her family disapproved of her relationship with 30-year-old Halil Unal, who follows a different branch of Islam.

The teenager’s father Mehmet Goren, 49, of Navestock Crescent, Woodford Green, and her uncles Ali Goren, of Brettenham Road, Walthamstow and Cuma Goren, of Evesham Avenue, Walthamstow, all deny murder.

At the Old Bailey today, Jonathan Laidlaw, summing up the proscution case, said all three men were lying to try to escape conviction.

He reminded the jury that Tulay's mother had told the court that Ali was the most senior member of the family and fed and clothed Memet's family both in Turkey and the UK, yet Ali denied being involved in Mehmet's family's affairs.

Mr Laidlaw told the jury there was evidence of many telephone calls between Ali and Mehmet before the teenager’s disappearance and Ali made a unusual weekend visit from Cumbria to London after she disappeared.

Mr Laidlaw said: “Tulay's involvement with a Sunni Muslim had an impact which extended beyond Mehmet and his family and that is why, we say, there was the involvement of the older brother.”

He went on: “The senior member of the family is responsible for solving the family's honour.”

Mr Laidlaw said of Mehmet's other brother, Cuma: “He either physically assisted and or was consulted about and gave approval to the murder of that child.”

He said Cuma had been involved with Mehmet's family in the run up to Tulay's disappearance, following her when she went to school and present when Tulay was tied up and given sleeping tablets by her father after trying to run away.

Mr Laidlaw told the court: “These murders don't necessarily involve any hostility between the perpetrator and victim.

"Usually the person killed is a member of family and is unlikely to be disliked. No-one suggests Ali, Mehmet or Cuma hated Tulay or wanted her dead for any other reason.”

Michael Turner QC, defending Mehmet, told the jury the crown prosecution had given them a difficult task because they could only find Ali and Cuma guilty if Mehmet is first found guilty.

He said it would have been impossible for Mehmet to kill and dismember Tulay at the family home and bury her in the garden without leaving any trace of blood, DNA or smell in the earth when the police and sniffer dogs searched the house.

The trial continues.