A teenager has been jailed for life after murdering a man in a row over fake banknotes being used in a drug deal.
Osita Alagbaoso, 18, was found guilty in April of stabbing 19-year-old Jaydon McFarlane in Brookfield Road, Ashford, Kent, in March 2020.
At Maidstone Crown Court on Tuesday, Alagbaoso was ordered to serve at least 20 years.
Joseph Matimba, 18, of Bodiam Road in London, was acquitted of murder, but admitted perverting the course of justice and was given an 18-month sentence.
Hassan Tejan, 25, of Beaver Green, Ashford, was convicted of perverting the course of justice and jailed for one year.
The murder was the result of a rivalry between two gangs in Ashford, whose members had engaged in a series of violent incidents in the weeks before the killing, Kent Police said.
During the trial, the court heard McFarlane had used three fake £20 notes to buy cannabis from Matimba.
Alagbaoso chased McFarlane down a street and fatally stabbed him, Kent Police said.
He and Matimba then swapped clothes in the toilets of a local takeaway, disposed of some of Alagbaoso’s clothing, and hid the knives he used to carry out the attack.
Alagbaoso and Matimba were then both driven to Canterbury by a third man, Tejan.
Alagbaoso also stabbed another man in Ashford’s Memorial Gardens on Saturday 25 January 2020, leaving him with leg injuries.
For that crime he was sentenced to four and a half years, concurrent to his life sentence.
Det Sgt Gavin Moss, senior investigating officer for the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, said: “Alagbaoso is a dangerous man who seemingly had no qualms about turning threats sent on social media into acts of serious and fatal violence.
“The death of Jaydon McFarlane will have an everlasting impact on his family and friends and I would like to thank them for their support during this investigation and the resulting trial.”
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