A Wembley man has been charged with the murder of a teenager in Park Royal. He is set to stand trial next year.

Sakariya Gasar, 20, of Waverly Avenue, appeared at the Old Bailey on Monday and a trial has been pencilled in for April 9.

Mahad Ali died after he was stabbed to death outside a house party in Coronation Road in the early hours of June 29.

The 18-year-old was an aspiring boxer who trained with Islington Boxing Club, just yards away from his home in Crouch End.

He had progressed through the junior academy to compete for the club.

One of Mr Ali’s best friends, Tariq Rahman, said that Mr Ali was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and added: “He was the kind of person everyone liked. He was the most trustworthy person you could get.”

Reggie Hagland, manager of Islington Boxing Club, added: “He was a lovely, lovely kid. I wouldn’t expect him to get into any trouble. I would have thought, not fully knowing what happened in this incident, it would have been a case of Mahad being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Gasar was charged with murder on October 19.