Oliver Tetlow killing: Rapper Cbiz used Skorpion to gun down man with help from rap MC, court hears

A London rapper accused of mistakenly gunning down an innocent young man with a Skorpion submachine gun in a feud over stolen bling was helped by another rap MC now living in Bermuda, a court has heard.

Oliver Tetlow, 27, was mown down in a hail of bullets on a busy street in north-west London after he was allegedly mistaken for a member of a local gang known as the Church Road Soldiers.

The drive-by shooting in Harlesden on 9 March saw him die at the scene after suffering 14 gunshot wounds to his chest, stomach, hand and leg, a court heard.

His killer is alleged to have escaped in a black Ford Kuga which was later found burnt out in neighbouring Ealing.

David Osadebay, 30, also known as the rapper Cbiz, is one of four men charged with his murder.

He sat silently in court during the second week of his trial at the Old Bailey alongside co-defendants Romane Young, 22, of Stafford Road, South Kilburn, Mohamed Siamino, 20, from Acton, and Jahmico Trott, 29, from Hulme in Manchester.

But the prosecution said a missing fifth man, named as Marcus Samuels, is also alleged to have been involved in the killing – and that he is currently living in his home country of Bermuda after leaving the UK in June before police could make an arrest.

Another Bermuda national, who claimed to be a friend of Samuels, also told the court on Wednesday (14 December) that the accused happened to be a rapper, known as "Diesel Santana".

The college student, who moved to the UK in 2015, added that he had even seen Samuels while on holiday in Bermuda just months after Tetlow's death.

Jurors previously heard an international arrest warrant has been sought to bring him back to the UK.

The prosecution said the killing of Tetlow in Church Road, Harlesden, was orchestrated by Osadebay after the rapper became enraged when gang members stole his gold jewellery while out with friends at Tape nightclub in Mayfair.

The flamboyant MC – whose online music videos attract millions of views – had a persona based on "money and jewellery", the court heard, with the theft said to have put a "dent" in that persona.

The day after the theft several individuals, said by the prosecution to be members of the Harlesden-based Church Road Soldiers gang, brandished the haul of stolen jewellery in a video posted on social media as a "taunt" to Osadebay.

The video included a rapper by the name of "Nines" – real name Courtney Freckleton – and another individual named Carlos Abreu, the court heard.

Prosecutor Thomas Kark QC told the jury earlier in the trial that the theft and taunts had so annoyed Osadebay that "he arranged a revenge attack".

"Osadebay enlisted the assistance of the other defendants to hatch a plan to kill one of the members of the Church Road Soldiers," Kark said. "The murder had been planned that day by the four defendants, each of whom played a distinct role."

But the plan went awry after the gunman mistook the victim for a member of the Church Road Soldiers and murdered him instead, Kark told the jury.

While the weapon used to kill Tetlow was said by the prosecution to have never been recovered – and the gunman who pulled the trigger still not known – a Skorpion submachine gun like the one allegedly used on the victim was brought into court to show to the jury.

An autopsy found the victim died of multiple gunshot wounds to the chest, the court heard. He was also shot in the right hand, abdomen and thigh, a pathologist report said.

All four defendants deny murder.

The trial, expected to last four weeks, continues.