Teenager jailed for life for Leyton gang murder of Jaden Moodie

Jaden became the year's youngest victim of gang crime when he was knocked off a scooter and stabbed to death in Leyton, east London, on January 8.

Ayoub Majdouline, 19, was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 21 years at the Old Bailey on Wednesday, December 12.

Majdouline was one of five Mali Boys who rode out in rival gang territory looking for members of the Beaumont Crew to attack.

When they came across Jaden dealing drugs on a scooter, they crashed into him and "butchered" him as he lay defenceless on the ground.

Jaden Moodie. Photo: Met Police/PA Wire

Jaden suffered nine stab wounds and bled to death in the road as the attackers ran back to the car and sped off, the court heard.

A knife and yellow rubber gloves with Jaden's blood and Majdouline's DNA on them were recovered from a drain the next day, the court heard.

Police also found Majdouline's Nike Air Max trainers among clothes that had been burned in a churchyard.

Majdouline, from Wembley, north-west London, admitted dealing drugs for the Mali Boys, and carrying knives, but denied being present during the fatal attack.

After a troubled upbringing, the defendant, who had an Irish mother and Moroccan father, turned to county lines dealing "to survive", he said.Three years after the murder of his father, Majdouline was identified by the National Crime Agency as a victim of "modern slavery".

Jurors also learned that Jaden had been in trouble with police since he was 13. His mother had sent him to stay in east London after a gang in Nottingham made threats.

Jaden had been caught with a Rambo knife and cannabis, and appeared in a Snapchat video with an imitation gun.

Following Majdouline's conviction, Jaden's mother Jada Bailey described her son's killers as "cowards".

In an interview with ITV News London, she said: "When they were killing him they could see he was a child.

"So I've got no sympathy and no words. They were cowards. He killed a child. He's a child killer."