Three men found guilty of the killing of an aspiring rapper have been jailed for a total of at least sixty years.

Ali Zahazwy, Rodney Mukasa and Femi Cela, attacked Andre Aderemi, 19, in Selsdon, Monks Hill Estate, last year as he cried out for his mum.

Zahazwy, aged 20, and of Bramble Close, Shirley and Mukasa, also aged 20, of Greenview Avenue, were both found guilty of murder at the Old Bailey yesterday. Femi Cela, aged 19, of Fryston Avenue, Croydon was found guilty of manslaughter.

At a sentencing hearing at the same court today (May 4),  Cela was sentenced to 16 years, with an extended licence period of four years. Mukasa and Zahazwy were both given life sentences with a minimum of 22 years.

The jury was unable to reach a decision on Jamell Lonergan, 19, of Woodcroft Road, Thornton Heath, who was also charged with murder, and he was discharged.

All four men had pleaded not guilty to murder when their trial began at the Central Criminal Court on February 15 this year.

Mr Aderemi, who went by the stage name Dee Rose, lived on the estate, before moving to Chatham, Kent.

At a church service held hours after his killing, his mother Yemi Hughes said he was moved to “get him out of this environment".

But after returning to the estate in August 2016, witnesses saw Andre being chased by a group of men carrying knives and other weapons, with a white vehicle also following him.

The gang caught up with Andre after a short chase, and the 19-year-old fell to the ground where he was stabbed and kicked until he was unconscious. The suspects then got into the vehicle and drove off.

Family, friends and residents, left tributes to the teenager, who bled to death on Heather Way, last August.