FIVE killers have been found guilty of a savage attack in which a man was beaten and hacked to death in a Blackbird Leys alleyway.

There were gasps and sobs from the public gallery at Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday as jurors handed down their verdicts and the trial of the murder of Christopher Lemonius came to an end.

Jurors unanimously found Rashaun Stoute, 24, of Church Cowley Road, Oxford, Otman Lamzini, 25, of Jourdain Road, Oxford, Carlos Spencer, 27, of Wynbush Road, Oxford and Conner Woodward, 25, of Haldane Road, Oxford, all guilty of murdering the 27-year old.

Oxford Mail:

Another man Yasine Lamzini, 20, of Jourdain Road, Oxford, was found not guilty of murder but guilty of an alternative count of manslaughter after more than 60 hours of deliberations.

Yousef Koudoua, 28, of Balfour Road, Oxford who had always denied being party to the violence was cleared by a majority and found not guilty.

READ AGAIN: Neighbours react the day after the killing & pictures from the scene

During the trial the jury panel of seven women and four men were told how the gang had chased Mr Lemonius to his eventual last stand at a house on Jourdain Road on June 1 last year.

Oxford Mail:

Inside the back garden of the house Mr Lemonius was subjected to an attack which prosecutor Stuart Trimmer QC described as ‘savage’ and in which more than 80 separate injuries were inflicted.

Oxford Mail:

Weapons including machetes and golf clubs were used to beat the victim to death before he was left lying in an alleyway.

Despite efforts to save him Mr Lemonius died at the John Radcliffe Hospital soon after.

Speaking of the onslaught during the trial Mr Trimmer said: "This was no scuffle by chance. This was a persistent, determined, armed attack, with death in mind.

"The weapons used included a machete and several other implements carried to cause injury and used to fearsome effect.

"This was an organised group activity with weapons that were carried through to a fatal conclusion."

Eyewitnesses, many of whom took to the witness box during the trial - which began in May, described chaotic scenes as Mr Lemonius was chased down the alleyway off Jourdain Road.

Jurors heard accounts in which Mr Lemonius was kicked and punched before poles, chunks of wood and a machete were used against him.

Eventually, the court heard, the men ran off when police officers swarmed on the area leaving Mr Lemonius in the alleyway.

Forensic experts investigating the site in the days after the murder found the attack had been so brutal one of the victim's fingers had been sliced off and was discovered in the garden.

They also found numerous weapons left behind including chunks of wood and golf clubs which had been thrown away to hide the killing.

Taking to the witness box during the trial the only murderer to take to the stand - Otman Lamzini, claimed that he and his co-defendants had been set upon by a gang of masked men in the run-up to the violence.

He told jurors that he had only tried to intervene in the attack and went on to admit he knew the identity of the real killers but refused to name them for fear of reprisals.

Despite the defendant's pleas of not guilty the panel took 64 hours and two minutes to find four of the men guilty of murder and a fifth guilty of manslaughter.

Jurors also returned verdicts today on four people accused of ‘covering up’ the killing and of charges relating to perverting the course of public justice.

Saffon Fakir, 26, of Territorial Way, Oxford and Alfie Simms, 17, of Long Ground, Oxford were both unanimously found guilty of conspiracy to pervert the course of public justice.

Simms can only now be named after the Oxford Mail challenged a reporting restriction guarding his anonymity following the verdicts.

Presiding Judge Ian Pringle QC agreed he would lift the order given the significant public interest in naming him.

Yamina Lamzini, 57, of Jourdain Road, Oxford, and Allal Lamzini, 69, of Jourdain Road, Oxford were also both unanimously found guilty of doing acts tending to pervert the course of public justice.

They lied to police who turned up at their home - the scene of the killing, and said that nothing had happened that night in their garden.

After all the sentences were handed down yesterday Judge Pringle thanked the jury panel and said: "We have had a long journey together and we are now at the end.

"What we have done over the last few months has been enormous and I am going to thank you on behalf of the court service."

The men and woman will be sentenced at the same court on October 12.