»A grim chapter of Islington’s recent history has closed as jail sentences were handed to the final three members of a gang whose terrorising of a rival estate culminated in the murder of an innocent painter.

Andrew Jaipaul, 21, met a “truly terrifying” death in 2011 when he was stabbed 25 times with kitchen knives and broken glass by members of Archway’s Busy Block gang as he walked home from work.

A 20-strong mob swarmed on to the Andover Estate off Seven Sister’s Road in Holloway and attacked Mr Jaipaul in a “cowardly fashion”.

Revenge

They ran away cheering and shouting “Busy Block” while Mr Jaipaul bled to death near a children’s play area, despite the efforts of neighbours to save him.

The prosecution claimed it was a revenge attack by Busy Block on their rival Wray Kray and Crouch Hall gangs after one of their members was stabbed in the buttocks.

Jamie Farrell, 26, Elliot Parkinson, 18, and Tylon Mason-Riley, 20, were jailed for six years their part in the violent disorder which preceded the murder.

Judge Gerald Gordon said a large group armed with a crutch, lumps of wood and a weapon similar to a machete had made its way through the streets.

He added: “Many, but not all, had their faces covered and it must have been obvious to you that the others were in that condition.

“It is hardly surprising that residents were put in fear and driven into their homes. The public has got to be protected from this sort of group activity on public streets, particularly residential streets.”

The judge said the jury had distinguished them from the killers as they left the group before the murder took place.

The court heard how Farrell, the son of two heroin addicts, was seen on CCTV “peeling away” from the masked mob before the killing.

Parkinson has a low IQ and is easily influenced, the court heard, while Mason-Riley was of good character before the offence.

Farrell, of Havelock Street, Islington, was jailed for two and a half years, while Parkinson, of Northumberland Grove, Tottenham and Mason-Riley, of Adams Place, Holloway, were sentenced to two years and 18 months respectively in a young offenders institute.

All three denied violent disorder.

A total of nine people have now been jailed in connection with the killing, including a 15-year-old boy who was just 13 at the time of the murder.

All charges were dropped against two other men Michael Burton, 20, of Hurlock Street, Highbury, Stephen Roberts, 21, of Highbury New Park, Highbury, after the prosecution offered no evidence.