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Gang forces GCSE boy to death plunge
Benedict Moore-Bridger and Rob Singh21 Aug 2008
A terrified boy plunged to his death from a block of flats while trying to flee a gang of masked thugs.
Ahmed Benyermak fell from the seventh floor the day before he was to pick up his GCSE results. He had passed nine of them.
The 16-year-old was with friends playing on the 14th floor of the block in Paragon Road, Hackney, when they spotted a hooded and masked gang on bikes below and fled.
Witnesses said the gang also had knives.
Ahmed clambered on to an open balcony and began to climb down - but fell at the seventh or eighth floor. He was found at the foot of the block just before 4pm yesterday by horrified passers-by.
Paramedics were at the scene within minutes but could not save him. Ahmed is the 24th teenager to die violently in London this year.
He was described as a "good pupil" by the head of his school, Hackney Free and Parochial C of E.
The mother of his best friend told how her son had been with him before the fall. She said: "My son was with Ahmed 20 minutes before it happened. He left him without about three other friends. There was a gang of five youths who have been terrorising the estate. They went over there and chased him. They had knives."
James Roberts, 45, assistant site manager at Ahmed's school, said: "A gang of kids was chasing him - there were about five of them - and they were probably trying to stab him or something. He tried to climb down each balcony but then he fell.
Today family and friends visited the scene of Ahmed's death but were too distraught to speak. The five sobbed and clutched each other as they looked at the scene.
A post-mortem examination will be held at Poplar Mortuary later today and officers from the Met's Specialist Crime Directorate are investigating. The area around Paragon Road is sealed off for forensics officers to work in.
Headteacher Richard Brown of Hackney Free and Parochial school said that Ahmed had never been in trouble.
He said: "I spoke to the family this morning. His parents were too upset to come and collect the results but I gave them to his brother and cousins. I had the difficult task of passing his GCSE results on to his family.
"He was only here for a year and I know his family are really proud of the C grades he got in maths and science.
"I've spoken to teachers who told me he was a pleasant, quiet lad. He comes from a good family who are proud of his achievements. As a headteacher you get to know where the problems are and I didn't know Ahmed.
"He was a quiet lad who had his group of friends and was not someone you expected to be in trouble. He has just been a tragic victim."
Mr Brown said the school will be keeping in close contact with the family and be helping them come to terms with their loss.
"Usually we would do a memorial service but as we are an 11 to 16 school the friends who knew him best would have left. We will be doing everything we can to comfort and support the family."
One of the 16-year-old's friends, who did not want to be named, said Ahmed had been a good student. "I had known him since primary school. He was really into football and excited about his exams."
Grieving friends and well-wishers today left flowers and messages of support at the entrance to the flat.
Police said they had found a number of abandoned cycles around the scene which were being forensically examined. They are also looking at CCTV.
Reader views (1)
" a gang of five youths who were terrorising the estate"
Small groups of violent young men now hold entire communities in their grip. Disgraceful.
- Danny, London, 21/08/2008 17:10
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