The motive for the fatal stabbing of a church minister’s son in Harlesden ‘remains a mystery’, the Old Bailey heard today.

David Headlam, 18, of Donnington Road, Willesden, was targeted by three youths as he walked home with a friend who was also attacked but survived.

His killers chased him 400 metres in Drayton Avenue, before he was knifed three times in the legs in the early hours of 29 June last year, it is claimed.

They then fled in the same taxi they used to travel to the scene from Wembley, jurors were told.

The prosecution claim the killers are Idris Daud, 19, T’Shai Ennis, 19, and Ayman Koshin, 18.

Koshin claims he has an alibi while Daud and Ennis blame each other and each claim they were an ‘innocent passenger’ on their way to a party at a youth club.

Prosecutor Timothy Cray told the jury: “These attempts to shift the blame are lies and tortuous explanations designed to deflect you from the truth. We say that these three defendants committed these crimes together.

“We will never know who the actual target was, much less the true motivation for the attack.”

“None of these defendants are going to reveal that or when the actual decision was taken to press the go button.”

The prosecution claim the youths collected the knives, wrapped in bandanas, from their hiding place behind a block of flats during their journey.

Daud’s barrister Nigel Lithman QC said there was no evidence the attack was gang or drug related, adding: “It remains a mystery.”

Ennis, previously from Wembley and now from Slough, Berks, Daud, of Anton Place, Wembley, and Koshin, of Summers Close, Wembley, all deny murder.

Mr Headlam is the son of Pentecostal church minister Bishop Alonzo Headlam,

The trial continues.