A promising young lawyer was brutally murdered just yards from his front door by ruthless muggers who valued his life no more than a mobile phone and bank cards, the Old Bailey heard.
Cambridge graduate Tom ap Rhys Pryce, 31, was stabbed to death by Donnel Carty, 19, and Delano Brown, 18, as he returned home to his fiancée after work. The hooded teenagers saw him as 'a means to an end' and ambushed him, the jury was told.
Prosecutor Richard Horwell QC said Mr ap Rhys Pryce was a 'proud man' who likely fought back when the pair demanded his possessions. He paid with his life, even after telling the robbers: 'That's everything, you've got everything.' He died on the pavement in sight of his home, knifed in the heart, with bloodstained wedding plans surrounding him.
The court heard that Carty and Brown were part of a 'team' of nine hooded robbers who rampaged through the London Underground system, using knives on those who resisted. They had robbed another man just 20 minutes before killing Mr ap Rhys Pryce. Both deny murder, but Brown admits robbery. The trial continues.
