Teenager shot dead by 'love rival who bombarded his girlfriend with threatening Facebook messages'

Victim: Ben Purdy
Rachel Blundy4 November 2015
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

A teenager was shot dead by a love rival after a row about "threatening" Facebook messages sent to his girlfriend, a court heard.

Ben Purdy, 18, was allegedly hunted down and murdered in the row over a woman.

Michael Bagnall is on trial at the Old Bailey for murder alongside family members Andrew and Reece Bayne and a 17-year-old youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

After a "skirmish" with the victim and two of his friends on the afternoon of November 23 last year, the defendants jumped in a car and scoured the streets of Bermondsey, the court heard.

They allegedly armed themselves with a self-loading pistol, a mace, a cosh or knife and an old fashioned police truncheon as they drove around in a Ford Focus looking for Ben, Callum Malone and Jack Walker.

When they caught up with them, Andrew Bayne shot Ben in the head while Reece Bayne chased Callum and cornered him, jurors were told.

Andrew Bayne then pointed the gun towards Callum telling him to open his mouth before Reece shouted out to him "We need to go - he's dead" and they made off, the court heard.

Mr Purdy suffered "catastrophic injuries" and died in hospital the next day.

Prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC told how the murder arose from a feud between Bagnall and Mr Purdy, who had started going out with the defendant's former girlfriend.

It was undoubtably a very stupid thing to have sought to do and cost Ben Purdy his life

&#13; <p>Prosecutor Crispin Aylett</p>&#13;

Despite the fact Bagnall had found a new girlfriend following the split in July last year, it still "rankled" that the girl had moved on and he sent her "threatening messages" by phone or Facebook.

Mr Aylett said: "After this had gone on for some time, Ben obviously had enough and so that Sunday, around lunchtime, with two friends to help - Callum and Jack - the three of them decided to go and confront Michael Bagnall and have it out with him.

"It was undoubtably a very stupid thing to have sought to do and cost Ben Purdy his life."

Shortly before the murder, there was allegedly a "skirmish" between Ben and his friends and three of the defendants - Michael Bagnall, Lee-Ann Bagnall, and Anthony Bayne close to the Bagnall family home in Bermondsey.

Although Ben was not carrying a weapon, his friends allegedly had a motorbike chain and a metal pole but still fled at the first sign of trouble, jurors were told.

Mr Aylett told the court that Michael Bagnall decided that Ben and his friends needed to be "taught a lesson".

Andrew Bayne, 37, Michael Bagnall, 22, Reece Bayne, 19, and the 17-year-old are charged with murder.

Michael Bagnall, Lee-Ann Bagnall, 19, and Anthony Bayne, 33, are charged with affray by threatening unlawful violence against Ben Purdy, Callum Malone and Jack Walker.

Michael Bagnall, Reece Bayne, and the youth are charged with conspiracy to commit assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

And Andrew Bayne is charged with possessing a self loading pistol with intent to cause fear of violence.

The defendants from Lewisham deny the charges against them.

The trial continues.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT