One of the men accused of torturing and murdering a Turkish DJ who was beaten with a baseball bat and had boiling water poured on him has claimed he was only hired as 'muscle to scare the guy'.
Steffan Gordon, 34, who admits kidnapping DJ Koray Alpergin, 43, told jurors he believed it was only ever going to be a a drugs robbery and he was merely helping 'some Turkish guys' to get a 'good cut' out of an 'illegal job'.
The body of Mr Alpergin was discovered near the Oakwood Hill Industrial Estate in Loughton, Essex, on October 15 last year after he was tortured to death. A post-mortem examination identified 94 separate injuries on his body.
Mr Alpergin, from northern Cyprus, was the owner of Turkish radio station Bizim FM and had connections with celebrities such as rapper P Diddy and internet sensation 'Salt Bae'.
He was kidnapped from outside his flat in Enfield with girlfriend Gozde Dalbudak, 34, on October 13 last year and they were 'frog-marched' into a white van after arriving home from an expensive Italian restaurant in Mayfair, the Old Bailey has heard.
DJ Koray Alpergin (pictured), 43, was kidnapped from outside his flat in Enfield, tortured and killed
Ms Dalbudak (pictured) told police in a statement she was placed in the back of the van and was crying loudly as Mr Alpergin said 'be quiet my love'. She was locked in a toilet for two days while Mr Alpergin was tortured
They were taken to the Stadium Lounge wine bar backing on to White Hart Lane, near the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where Mr Alpergin was beaten, throttled, scalded with boiling water, stabbed, maimed and wounded to the genitals, while Ms Dalbudak was locked in a toilet for two days, jurors were told.
He was allegedly murdered at the wine bar before his naked body was then dumped in woodland and the vehicles used set alight. His corpse was found by a dog walker.
Gordon, Tejean Kennedy, 33, Samuel Owusu-Opuku, 35 and Junior Kettle, 32 deny murder and false imprisonment. Kennedy, Owusu-Opuku and Kettle also deny kidnap.
Giving evidence at the Old Bailey, Gordon said: 'When I asked him (Kennedy) what he was up to, his friends had a little move, an illegal job.
'He said he knew a Turkish guy who had some food (drugs) and needed a little more muscle. Basically he said, you just have to go for muscle and you will get a good cut of it.
'So I thought, ok, that sounds simple enough. At that time, I thought it would just be these Turkish guys would rob another and would need some muscle to scare the guy.
'He just said it would be later on, I assumed a few hours later or something like that. I agreed to be a part of it.'
It comes after the Old Bailey heard that blood belonging to Mr Alpergin was found on clothing, cleaning products and a mop handle at the site where he was murdered.
A post-mortem examination identified 94 separate injuries to Mr Alpergin's body which was covered in cuts and bruises
The DJ was allegedly murdered in the Stadium Lounge (pictured) in October last year
Gordon said he was sitting with Kettle in a house with the Turkish men when he overheard them discussing the evening plans.
'It sounded like they knew him, they were saying "it is going to be easy, he is going to be with his girl and he will give it up easily, he is a p***y.."
'From this I assumed it was someone in their friendship group, I thought it was a set-up, and I was just there to be intimidating.'
Gordon later overheard the Turks discussing a white van, which he thought was going to be for other members to arrive in to conduct the robbery.
'I know it is not a robbery now, but the Turkish guy said "put him in the van and make sure he doesn't contact anybody".
'Now I understand that it is not simply taking something off him but we need to hold him. By that time, I thought they wanted to talk to him, that is why they were saying he is a p***y.
'I assumed this was going to be a daytime robbery but now it is night-time and there is a van involved. I thought I would be playing a really small role, nobody told me what my role was.
It comes after the Old Bailey heard that blood belonging to Mr Alpergin (pictured) was found on clothing, cleaning products and a mop handle at the site where he was murdered
Mr Alpergin's naked body was found near Oakwood Hill Industrial Estate in Loughton, Essex and was pronounced dead at the scene. Pictured: police vehicles at the scene on Oakwood Hill
'They said to grab him and put him in a van. At that time I wasn't sure who was going to be involved.
'I expected a bit of scrapping, maybe a punch or two but forcefully getting someone into a van.
'From what I had seen, he was a big guy, the way they spoke about him, he was small. I wouldn't have called it kidnap at the time, at the time it was putting him in the van.
'The Turkish guys were going to question him, they were going to get whatever they wanted from him and then we would go our separate ways.'
But Mr Alpergin and Ms Dalbudak were forcefully put into the back of the van and it was driven away.
Gordon told the court: 'They picked him up from his arms, I picked him up by one of his legs and we put him in via the sliding door of the van.
'I had to pick up his leg, by the time I got there, the guy was on top of him and grabbed his arms. He was not happy about being grabbed.
'By the time, we had brought Mr Alpergin back to the van, she (Ms Dalbudak) was standing next to the sliding doors.
'There was a man next to her, I remember when I was putting Mr Alpergin in the van, she was standing calmly next to the van, with someone behind her.
Mr Alpergin (left) was the owner of Turkish radio station Bizim FM, and had connections with celebrities such as Turkish restauranteur and internet sensation 'Salt Bae' (right)
Radio DJ Koray Alpergin (right) is pictured with rapper P Diddy, whose real name is Sean Combs
'She just got in the van. He (Mr Alpergin) was kicking the door open, so I was holding his legs and closing the door again so it didn't fly open.
'She was scared, she was weeping, not actually crying, but weeping out of fear. They calmed down after a while.
'I am still holding his legs and the door (of the van) has a little latch and I am trying to pull the latch back. I never knew what was going on, apart from putting him in the van, I never knew what was going to take place next.'
Ms Dalbudak had told police in a statement she was placed in the back of the van and was crying loudly as Mr Alpergin said 'be quiet my love.'
In her statement she had said she was knocked out by being punched twice in the face.
Her next memory was being inside a dark place and hearing Mr Alpergin and someone hitting or beating him.
Ms Dalbudak has said she will not fly back from Turkey to testify in the murder trial.
Kennedy, of Cricklewood Broadway, Cricklewood, Owusu-Opuku, of Dunbar Road, Wood Green and Kettle, of Kingsdown Road, Islington deny murder and two counts of kidnap and false imprisonment.
Gordon, of Dehavilland Close, Northolt, denies murder and two counts of false imprisonment but admitted kidnap.
The trial continues.
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