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London mob killing branded Britain’s first ‘social media murder’

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By John Glenday, Reporter

July 16, 2013 | 1 min read

The brutal mob murder of a 16 year old school pupil at London’s Victoria Station is being treated as Britain’s first ‘social media murder’ by police.

Sofyen Belamoudaden was slain in march 2010 after pupils from two schools clashed at the transport terminus in front of hundreds of shocked commuters.

The fracas was inflamed by messages sent on Facebook and smartphones including ‘There’s going to be madness” and “People are going to get slumped”.

Gang members used the technology to plan the attack in advance; including sourcing knives used as weaponry during the assault.

A total of 20 youths stood trial for the killing with the final gang member, Junior Bayode, 20, of Streatham, south London, sentenced yesterday to a total of 11 years.

Speaking after the sentencing det chief insp John McFarlane of the Metrpolitan Police said Sofyen’s murder was “…the first case of note that BlackBerry messaging had come to the fore and been used for criminality”.

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