Neasden man on murder charge applies for bail alongside sports agent who has dealt with Jay Z and Chelsea footballer Ashley Cole

Kevin Richards, 32, Christopher Nathaniel, 40, founder of NVA Entertainment group, and seven other men are accused of killing Danny O’Shea in Canning Town

A Neasden man charged with the murder of a teenager and his eight co-defendants have applied for bail today (Monday).

Kevin Richards, 32, of North Circular Road, is claimed to have taken part in a revenge attack where 18-year-old Danny O’Shea was stabbed to death in Canning Town, east London.

The Old Bailey heard claims that Christopher Nathaniel, 40, paid �1,500 to fund a revenge attack on a group of youths who robbed his business partner Paul Boadi, 34, of a Blackberry mobile phone.

Nathaniel, who founded the NVA Entertainment group in 2005 and ran the business from his flat in Canary Wharf, brokered a deal last year allowing Chelsea star Cole to open a branch of US rapper Jay-Z’s 40/40 restaurant and bar chain.

He was also a director of Man United star Rio Ferdinand’s Live The Dream foundation, has worked with anti-knife crime campaigns and has had ‘high-level’ meetings former PMs Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

The court was told Mr O’Shea’s attackers travelled in a minibus to Canning Town on December 2 last year armed with a knife.

Mr O’Shea, who is not believed to have been involved in the robbery, was stabbed in the neck outside his mother’s front door.

Richards, Nathaniel, Boadi, Paul Johnson, 33, from Greenford, O’Neil Wareham, 29, Andrew Johnson, 35, Ferron Perue, 24, Nugent Rowe, 29, all from Harrow, and David Hylton, 47, from central London, were charged with murder and conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm last week and are currently in custody.

The hearing continues.