Student murder trial

Two men accused of shooting and stabbing a university student to death in a gang-related attack will stand trial in October.

Duke Quainoo and Bilkan Bilkaner, both 20, allegedly blasted Russell Jordan Jones, 23, with a shotgun before knifing him in the chest in Enfield last month.

Mr Jones, who was in the last year of his degree at the University of Hertfordshire, was with a group of friends outside a parade of shops when they were confronted by at least four attackers at around 12.34am on 17 March.

Another 23 year-old man also suffered stab injuries during the attack.

Mr Jones was pronounced dead at the scene in South Street near the junction with Scotland Green Road at 1.14am. A postmortem found he died from stab wounds to the chest.

Quainoo and Bilkaner were charged with murder on 27 April and appeared at the Old Bailey today (TUES) for a preliminary hearing.

Prosecutor Benjamin Temple told the court: ‘It bears the hallmarks of a gang rivalry.’

Judge Sarah Munro QC remanded the two men in custody until a plea and trial preparation hearing on 16 July.

Quainoo, of Purcell House, Holbrook Close, Enfield, and Bilkaner, of Dartford Avenue, Enfield, north London, are due to stand trial on 22 October.