A teenager was shot in the back of the head in north London after a 15-year-old boy recruited two older men to help him "get even" for being beaten up, a court heard.

Sharmaarke Hassan, 17, was gunned down in May 2008 in a crime "as casual as it was callous", an Old Bailey jury was told.

The court heard there was an "overwhelming likelihood" that Sharmaarke was not even the intended target. Four days after the shooting in Camden Town his life support machine was turned off.

Crispin Aylett QC, prosecuting, said the killing was "committed in revenge" for an incident earlier that day when a 15-year-old boy was "humiliated" by being beaten up by one of the victim's friends and two other boys.

He was allegedly "looking to get even" but "rather than running the risk of doing his own dirty work" he recruited two other men, Didi Parkes and Chen Shire, said Mr Aylett.

The boy, who is now 17 and cannot be named because of his age, together with Parkes, 24, of Cricklewood, and Shire, 22, of Kentish Town, deny murder.

Jurors heard that in the evening after the boy was beaten up, Sharmaarke arranged to meet friends including those who took part in the earlier incident. Parkes and Shire, tipped off by the younger defendant, were "lurking in the shadows" and one of the two shot Sharmaarke in the head while the other kept look-out, said Mr Aylett, before they "vanished into the night".

There was "some evidence to suggest" it was Parkes rather than Shire "who actually carried out the shooting", jurors were told.

Jurors were told there was no identification evidence linking any of the defendants to the murder and none of them had admitted it. But he said: "Over a period of time and with painstaking thoroughness, the police have put together a compelling case against these three defendants based on the combined effect of telephone and CCTV evidence."

The trial was adjourned until Tuesday.

Source - The Press Association