Good samaritan neighbours tried to save a young man’s life as he lay dying from dozens of stab wounds near a children’s play area, a court heard.

Andrew Jaipaul was 21 when he was stabbed 25 times with broken glass and kitchen knives, and attacked with lumps of brick on the Andover Estate, off Seven Sisters Road, Holloway, as gang violence erupted in June 2011.

A group of armed youths, said to be part of the Busy Block gang, allegedly covered their faces with balaclavas and flooded onto the Holloway estate seeking revenge after one of their members had been stabbed earlier the same day.

The Old Bailey was told they attacked Mr Jaipaul, of nearby Birnam Road, who was left with slashes to his skull, neck and arm and stab wounds to his shoulder, back, hand, thigh and two deep chest wounds, one of which punctured his lung.

Prosecuting, Zoe Johnson, QC said: “Many residents made their way to Corkers Walk, the site of the attack on Andrew Jaipaul.

“These witnesses found Andrew Jaipaul collapsed near the play area and they did their best to stem the inevitable blood loss with towels.

“Here people congregated and tried their best to save Andrew’s live, but sadly they were unsuccessful.

“His injuries were numerous, blood loss from them horribly swift.”

Ambulance crews performed an emergency operation and police found an eight cm kitchen knife and broken bottles stained with his blood.

The court had earlier heard the mob, part of the Elthorne Estate’s Busy Block gang, were on the warpath after a senior member was stabbed in the buttocks just hours earlier.

Miss Johnson said: “He [Andrew Jaipaul] was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“He found himself a victim of a series of escalating attacks between rival gangs in north London.

“Andrew Jaipaul was minding his own business when, out of nowhere, a large armed gang came across him, decided to attack him, chased him down and brutally murdered him near a children’s play area.”

The gang was heard to cheer and shout ‘Busy Block’ as they fled the scene, it was claimed.

Miss Johnson said: “A prominent member [of Busy Block] became a victim. That could not be left unanswered. Busy Block decided to make a show of violence. Andrew Jaipual was a victim of that show of violence.”

She added: “The defendants who appear in the dock are some of those who formed the aggressive group that night.”

Thomas McInerney, of Lennox Road, Finsbury Park; Allan Kalema, of Cardinals Way, Archway; Warren Brooks, of Ritchie Street, Islington; Jojo Mafwa, of St Margaret’s Avenue, Tottenham; Tirrell Ball-Thomas, of Colthurst Crescent, Finsbury Park, Orvill Sterling, of Green Street, Enfield; a 17-year-old from Islington and a 15-year-old from Upper Holloway all deny murder, conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm and violent disorder.

The trial continues.