Three men have gone on trial for the murder of a teenager in a park after one of them was allegedly placed at the scene by his ankle tag.
Daniel Matos was tracked on GPS data on the device as he, Keith Preddie and Joshua Cowley cycled to Hanworth Park in Feltham, west London, two of them armed with large knives, the Old Bailey heard.
The victim, Tyler Donnelly, 19, had also cycled there in his role as a runner for a local drug dealing business operated from a phone number called the “John line”, jurors were told.
Instead of meeting his customers, he was allegedly set on by the defendants and fatally stabbed in the neck.
His body was found the next day in thick grass near his discarded bicycle. He was still carrying nearly 30 packages of heroin and crack cocaine and £300 in cash, jurors were told.
As well as being linked to the scene of the crime by GPS, Matos’s DNA was identified on an unlit cigarette beside the body and he had the victim’s blood on the sleeve of his hoodie, prosecutor Julian Evans KC said.
Matos, 22, from Hounslow, Preddie, 33, from Feltham, and Cowley, 28, from Hounslow, have denied murdering Mr Donnelly last January 24.
Opening their trial on Tuesday, Mr Evans said the killing came against the background of drug dealing and the “inherent” danger it posed.
Shortly beforehand, two drug users had used the “John line” to order drugs and gone to the park expecting to meet Mr Donnelly.
Instead they encountered Preddie, who one of them knew as P, along with the two others in face coverings or balaclavas and carrying knives, it was alleged.
The men appeared “hyped” and when asked to leave the park, the drug users did as they were told, jurors heard.
Mr Evans said: “It is the prosecution case that the three people on bikes were Preddie, Matos and Cowley.
“At this time, the GPS data for Matos places him in the same area of the park that the three people on bikes were seen.”
Minutes later, Mr Donnelly had set off from his home and was last seen alive cycling into the park at 9.12pm, the court was told.
As well as a stash of drugs, he had a large knife in a leather sheath tucked into the waistband of his trousers which was unused.
At around the same time, the three defendants were tracked on GPS and caught on CCTV re-entering the park on their bicycles, it was alleged.
The attack on Mr Donnelly in the next five minutes was not caught on camera or witnessed by anyone, jurors were told.
Mr Evans said: “However the violence unfolded, Tyler Donnelly was subjected to a sustained and targeted attack inside the park.
“In the course of the attack, he suffered a number of stab wounds. A penetrating stab wound to his neck was to prove fatal.”
The prosecutor alleged that all three defendants participated either as stabbers or encouraging and assisting in the killing, with the intention to cause really serious harm.
Afterwards, the defendants rode out of the park, with Matos changing his clothes at a friend’s address and the other two defendants going to Cowley’s home, it was claimed.
They were all arrested four days later and made no comment in police interviews.
Mr Evans said the defendants denied being involved in Mr Donnelly’s death and claimed they went to the park together to get drugs.
The defence would claim that Matos went alone to get the drugs when other people appeared and attacked the dealer, the court heard.
Mr Evans ruled out robbery as a motive for the killing, telling jurors: “It may well be that drugs and drug dealing lie at the heart of this murder, enterprises which bring with them the obvious risks of rivalry, territorial dominance and violence.”
The Old Bailey trial continues.