THE “ring leader” behind a “brutal” attack that left one teenager dead and another wounded in Wealdstone was a “bully”, a court heard.

The jury in the case of three men accused of murdering Hassan Kul Hawadleh at the Total garage, in High Street, Wealdstone, on February 19, heard the prosecution closing speech yesterday.

After a trial which has lasted more than three months, Brian Altman QC told the Old Bailey how Onochie Madekwe, 33, of Kingsbury, had disrupted the hearing, threatening witnesses and at one stage even challenging him to a fist fight.

Mr Altman said: “Onochie Madekwe has presented himself to you as a hypocrite, certainly anti-authoritarian, certainly anti-establishment and a conspiracy theorist.

“But he is also intelligent, he is cunning, he is manipulative, he has sought to avoid the truth and he has done so by smoke and mirrors.”

He claims Mr Madekwe was the driving force behind a planned revenge attack that saw Mr Hawadleh stabbed in the heart and his friend Abdiwahab Guiled knifed twice and badly beaten.

Mr Altman said: “He was clearly the leader or ring leader of these defendants. He may even have been seen as a natural leader given his age and his very strong personality.

“We have all seen it ourselves - he is a bully and he is certainly intimidating.”

Mr Altman described the attack as “entirely deliberate”, saying “It was quick and it was brutal”.

The prosecution say Mr Hawadleh was murdered due to a feud sparked when Mr Madekwe called Wasarme Guiled, Abdiwahab’s cousin, a “crackhead” three days earlier on Monday, February 16.

A fight then broke out, in Ladbrokes, in High Street, which led to an arranged punch up between Mr Guiled and one of Mr Madekwe’s group in a nearby car park.

There was a confrontation in the Harrow Weald area the following day followed by a stabbing outside Wazar Superstore, in High Street, on the Wednesday, when Mr Altman said Madekwe had been present.

Andrew Spence, 22, of Ealing, admits to beating Wasarme Guiled with a chain in William Hill, in High Street, on the Thursday, an hour before the petrol station attack, while Mr Madekwe waited outside.

Michael Anthony Boyde, 37, of Willesden, acknowledges he punched and kicked the man as he lay on the floor at the back of the shop, during the same incident.

But it was by coincidence, prosecutors claim, that the group saw Mr Hawadleh, Abdiwahab Guiled and a third man, Ahmed Muse, filling Mr Hawadleh’s car with petrol at around 7.30pm.

None of the three men currently on trial attacked Mr Hawadleh but Mr Altman told jurors they acted in a group with the killer, and as a result share responsibility, a legal concept known as joint enterprise.

He said all three defendants repeatedly punched and kicked Abdiwahab Guiled while the teenager curled up in a ball to protect himself.

They then chased Mr Muse off the forecourt, where he hid behind a pregnant Somali woman who was with her young children.

Mr Altman said: “He had used her as a shield, pretending she was his mother, and had he not done so his fate would have been the same as the other two.”

Mr Madekwe and Mr Boyde fled the country by ferry but were eventually extradited back to Britain.

All three deny murder, attempted murder and grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent.

Mr Madekwe denies violent disorder.

The trial continues.