On October 13, 2022, near the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, 43-year-old DJ Mehmet Koray Alpergin and his girlfriend, Gozde Dalbudak, 34, faced an alarming encounter. As the pair made their way home from an upscale Mayfair district Italian restaurant, they were confronted by six men. 

It was unveiled in a jury trial on September 20 that a tracking device had been secretly placed on Alpergin’s car, leading the attackers directly to them. Once they had the couple, Dalbudak was held at knifepoint and eventually locked inside a restroom at a vacant wine bar on White Hart Lane for 48 hours. Alpergin was not so fortunate; his severely injured naked body was found two days later in the Essex woods. The injuries detailed include wounds from punches, kicks, a bat, boiling water, and a knife.

The suspects in this case are Steffan Gordon, 34, Tejean Kennedy, 33, Samuel Owusu-Opoku, 35, Junior Kettle, 32, Ali Kavak, 26, and Erdogan Ulcay, 56. The charges they face range from murder and kidnapping to false imprisonment and obstruction of justice. 

Crispin Aylett, a lawyer involved in the case, has indicated in court that the brutal act against Alpergin might have been carried out as a form of payback or an effort to gather certain information, possibly about drugs or money. Aylett underscored the extreme brutality suffered by Alpergin, suggesting ties to “organized crime” circles, primarily those associated with narcotics.

Reports shed light on the financial problems Alpergin was grappling with prior to the event. The owner of London’s Turkish-language radio station Bizim FM, Alpergin was said to have been quite troubled, notably owing $40,000 for his vehicle. 

Of the men charged, Kennedy, Owusu-Opoku, Kettle, and Kavak have dismissed allegations of murder, kidnapping, and false imprisonment. Gordon admits to the kidnapping but denies the murder and false imprisonment charges. Ulcay and Kavak both refute accusations of obstructing justice, but Owusu-Opoku acknowledges them.