Gang who kidnapped DJ and locked his girlfriend in toilet where she was forced to hear his screams as he was tortured to death face years behind bars
- WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
- Koray Alpergin, 43, was brutally beaten and tortured over the course of two days
A gang who kidnapped a Turkish radio DJ and forced his girlfriend to hear his screams as he was tortured to death are facing years behind bars.
Koray Alpergin, 43, was ambushed outside his north London home and bundled into a van along with his girlfriend Gozde Dalbudak, 34, who was on her first visit to the UK from Turkey on October 13, 2022.
Ms Dalbudak was locked in a toilet at the Stadium Lounge restaurant near the Tottenham Hotspur stadium for two days as her boyfriend cried out in agony nearby.
Mr Alpergin, who had become involved in the drugs trade, was brutally beaten with a baseball bat and had boiling water poured on him.
The bottoms of feet were repeatedly stabbed and he was also sexually tortured with items forced into his rectum.
The body of DJ Koray Alpergin, 43, was discovered near the Oakwood Hill Industrial Estate in Loughton, Essex, on October 15 last year
Ms Dalbudak (pictured) was locked in a toilet for two days while Mr Alpergin was tortured
His naked burned body was eventually dumped in woodland in Loughton, Essex, before it was found by a dog walker.
When the kidnappers let Ms Dalbudak go she took a cab to a restaurant she had been at 48 hours before and the owner thought she was homeless woman begging for food.
Mr Alpergin, a father-of-one, was the owner of Turkish radio station Bizim FM and had connections with celebrities such as rapper P Diddy and Salt Bae.
Tejean Kennedy, 33 and Samuel Owusu-Opuku, 35, were both found guilty of kidnapping the DJ and his girlfriend.
Kennedy and Steffan Gordon, 34, were found guilty of the false imprisonment of the DJ, but Owusu-Opuku was cleared of that offence.
Gordon was convicted of the false imprisonment of Ms Dalbudak as was Kennedy. Owusu-Opuku was cleared of that offence.
The jury cleared Gordon of the murder of the DJ. Kennedy was also cleared of the murder – but found guilty of manslaughter.
Owusu-Opuku was cleared of murder.
Junior Kettle, 32, was cleared of murder, kidnap and false imprisonment and walked free.
Erdogan Ulcay, 56, denied but was convicted of perverting the course of justice by assisting with the disposal of Mr Alpergin’s body or the destruction by fire of a Fiat Diablo van and Renault Megane.
Owusu-Opuku and Yigit Hurman, 18, previously admitted perverting the course of justice.
Mr Alpergin (left) was the owner of Turkish radio station Bizim FM, and had connections with celebrities such as Turkish restauranteur and internet sensation ‘Salt Bae’ (right)
Mr Alpergin, from northern Cyprus, was the owner of Turkish radio station Bizim FM and had connections with celebrities such as rapper P Diddy
The jury deliberated for over 42 hours before reaching their unanimous verdicts. Judge Sarah Whitehouse, KC will now sentence them on a date to be fixed
Mr Alpergin had appeared in court himself in 2010 when he was given a suspended prison sentence for broadcasting Bizim FM without the required £50,000 license.
The channel had risked interrupting air traffic control and 999 communications.
The DJ, who had worked as a bus driver before he launched the station, was granted citizenship in 2001.
He returned home to Istanbul in summer 2022 where he met Ms Dalbudak.
When he came back to the UK he seemed on edge and told a friend he had ‘said the wrong thing to the wrong person and they wanted to question him.’
In the weeks before the kidnap two trackers were fitted to Mr Alpergin’s Audi.
Ms Dalbudak had been in the UK for three days when Mr Alpergin took her to an expensive Italian restaurant in Mayfair on October 13.
Although he wanted to appear wealthy, Mr Alpergin was in dire financial straits.
At his flat police would find a summons for non-payment of council tax, other county court judgements relating to outstanding debts, and a solicitor’s letter in connection with the £32,405 that was owed for his Audi.
When the couple returned to Mr Alpergin’s home in Enfield, a man emerged from the shadows with a bread knife as she got out of the car and told her to shut up.
Prosecutor Crispin Aylett told jurors: ‘As Koray Alpergin got out of his Audi, a man ran towards him – the man was followed by three others.
‘Although Mr Alpergin tried to run away, he was quickly caught. He called out for help but he was frog-marched back past his own car and bundled into a white van that was parked nearby.
‘Much later on, the police recovered from outside the flat a blood-stained fragment that had been torn from Koray Alpergin’s shirt.
‘So, he must have put up a fight – but he was simply outnumbered.’
DJ Koray Alpergin (pictured), 43, was kidnapped from outside his flat in Enfield, tortured and killed
The DJ was allegedly killed in the Stadium Lounge (pictured) in October last year
Ms Dalbudak was bundled in the back of the van and was sobbing loudly when Mr Alpergin told her ‘be quiet my love.’
She was knocked unconscious and her next memory was being in a ‘dark place’ and hearing Mr Alpergin being tortured to death.
Her hands and feet were tied and she was blindfolded and made to walk to a toilet where she was locked up and fed only scraps of chicken and potatoes.
After he was killed, Mr Alpergin’s body was taken to the nearby Triumph Trading Estate and then it was placed in a Renault Megane and driven to Loughton in Essex in convoy with a Fiat Diabolo van.
The body was found lying in a foetal position with his hands crossed and tied at the wrist in front of his chest with a red cloth.
A post-mortem found 94 separate injuries including cuts and bruises and a blow to the head causing brain damage.
He had injuries to the neck consistent with ligature being used to strangle him, 14 fractured ribs and bruising to the chest suggesting the use of a baseball bat.
The DJ also had tears to his rectum.
The vehicles were later burned.
Ms Dalbudak was released by the kidnappers and given £40 for a cab which she took to the only place in London she knew – a restaurant called Mem and Laz where she had been with Mr Alpergin.
Owner Mehmet Kocakerim did not recognise her when she entered wearing an oversized green jacket and beanie the kidnappers had given her, with bruises to her nose and eyes.
He said: ‘At first I thought that she was a beggar or something because she didn’t have any make up on and she looked very rough and everything.
‘She looked scared, she said she didn’t want the police involved, all she wanted was to get her passport and to fly out.’
Mr Aylett told the jury: ‘Ms Dalbudak went back to Turkey on 21 October 2022. Although she has remained in contact with police officers in London – she has not come back to the UK.
‘Nor is she willing to do so for the purposes of this trial – nor is she prepared to give evidence over a live link from Turkey.
‘For perfectly understandable reasons, you may think, she wants to put the whole thing behind her.’
Ms Dalbudak said in a police interview she had met Mr Alpergin though a female friend in Turkey in June 2022.
She said they flirted for a while and after a couple of months she planned to come to London for about five days so they could get to know each other better.
She came on 10 October and had a return booked for 16 October.
A police van and cordon pictured in Loughton, Essex, where Mr Alpergin’s body was found
Mr Alpergin’s naked body was found near Oakwood Hill Industrial Estate in Loughton, Essex and was pronounced dead at the scene. Pictured: police vehicles at the scene on Oakwood Hill
A police car parked behind a cordon close to the scene where Mr Alpergin’s body was found
Mr Alpergin took her sightseeing and to ‘the best restaurants’, she said.
She didn’t know him that well but said he had shown interest in her and affection and she wanted to spend more time with him.
On the night of the kidnap she was wearing black leather trousers with boots, a cream top and cream tench coat.
Ms Dalbudak said a man appeared at the side of the car with a metal bread knife and told her to shut up.
She saw three or four males holding Mr Alpergin and she was very scared, she said.
Ms Dalbudak said she was thrown in the back of the van and was crying loudly.
The men told her to shut up and Mr Alpergin said ‘be quiet my love.’
Ms Daldubak told police she thought she was going to die.
She said she was knocked out by being punched twice in the face.
Her next memory was being inside a dark place and hearing Mr Alpergin and someone hitting or beating him.
She could hear him shouting in English. She tried to explain she was a tourist on holiday and was crying a lot, she said.
Her hands and feet were tied and she was blindfolded and made to walk to to a toilet where she was locked up.
The lavatory only had a tiny bit of light and smelled like fish or dead animals, she said.
Her trench coat, an iPhone, a gold bracelet and a necklace with a heart shaped diamond pendant bought for her by a previous partner were taken.
Ms Daldubak tried to tell them ‘ticket, Istanbul airport’ and said, in her limited English, she would go to Istanbul and not go to the police.
She said she was ‘in a state of fear and panic’ and wanted to get out as soon as possible.
Ms Daldubak placed under special protection of the police after Mr Alpergin’s body was found.
Gordon admitted his role in the kidnap but claimed he believed it was part of a drugs robbery and he was just ‘helping some Turkish guys’.
Kettle, a carpenter, claimed that Gordon had asked him to wait nearby while the kidnap took place and he only later realised he was being used as a getaway driver.
Kennedy and Owusu-Opuku did not give evidence.
Kennedy, of Cricklewood Broadway, Cricklewood, Owusu-Opuku, of Dunbar Road, Wood Green, Kettle, of Kingsdown Road, Islington, denied murder and two counts of kidnap and false imprisonment.
Gordon, of Dehavilland Close, Northolt, denied murder and two counts of false imprisonment.
Ulcay, of Oakeshott Avenue, Camden and Kavak denied preventing the course of justice.
Hurman and Owusu-Opoku admitted perverting the court of justice.
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