Two teenagers chased and stabbed a trainee plumber to death in the street after he demanded payment of a £150 cannabis debt, the Old Bailey heard.

Ashan Crosdale, 19, and a 16-year old boy who cannot legally be named, allegedly knifed 19-year old Charlie Burns four times in the chest and back.

The confrontation started after Mr Burns, who was known as Chucky, spotted the 16-year old by chance while driving around on 18 August last year.

He pulled alongside Crosdale’s Vauxhall Astra and blocked them off before getting out of his car with a wheel brace.

Crosdale reversed away to escape but crashed into a lamppost near the junction of Frampton Park Road and Darnley Road, South Hackney.

When Mr Burns approached and hurled the wheel brace at their car, the two teenagers “turned the tables on him”, said prosecutor Mark Dennis QC.

“They left their vehicle and chased him as he turned and fled back to his own car,” he said.

“They caught up to him and both delivered violent blows to the now defenceless victim.

“Multiple wounds were inflicted by a knife or knives.”

Charlie, who lived in Sharon Gardens with his girlfriend and their child, died in hospital less than two hours later.

Mr Dennis told jurors the dispute was not a matter of road rage, but because the 16-year old owed him money.

He said Mr Burns’ “shameful” behaviour in chasing the teenagers and throwing the object at their car was no justification for the stabbing.

He added: “Such violence was deliberate and in the heat of the moment done in anger with the intention to cause Charlie Burns really serious harm.”

Crosdale, of Forsyth House, Frampton Park Road, and the younger boy from Hackney, who has since turned 17, deny murder.

The trial continues.