County Lines drug dealer, 19, is jailed for at least 21 years for ‘barbaric’ gang murder of Jaden Moodie, 14, who was knocked off his moped and stabbed to death in 14 seconds of horror

• Ayoub Majdouline, 19, jumped out of the black Mercedes that hit the 14-year-old
• As he lay on ground, Majdouline, and at least two others stabbed the teenager 
• Majdouline wore a pair of yellow rubber gloves as he murdered helpless Jaden
• Jaden’s mother Jada Bailey remembered ‘loving, caring, family-oriented’ son

A County Lines drug dealer has been jailed for at least 21 years after the ‘barbaric’ gang murder of Jaden Moodie, who was knocked off his moped and stabbed to death in 14 seconds of horror.

Ayoub Majdouline, 19, jumped out of the black Mercedes that hit the 14-year-old head on and as he lay helpless on the ground Majdouline, and at least two others stabbed him nine times.

Jaden had been dealing drugs for the Beaumont Crew – AKA Let’s Get Rich – in Leytonstone and the attackers were members of the rival Somali gang known as the ‘Mali Boys.’

Majdouline wore a pair of distinctive yellow rubber gloves as he murdered helpless Jaden in East London, in January. They were later found, along with a knife, dumped in the gutter.

Jaden Moodie, 14, was murdered in East London on January 8 by Ayoub Majdouline (right), 19

Jaden was knocked off his moped (pictured) during the attack in East London in January

Police officers investigate in East London following the murder nearly a year ago on January 8

Jaden, pictured with cash, was said to be the youngest member of the Let’s Get Rich gang

A pile of scorched clothing including a pair of Nike Air Max trainers were found by police in a churchyard nearby linked Majdouline the murder through a ‘one in a billion’ DNA match.

The killer insisted someone had stolen his clothes when he was bagging up heroin at a safe-house – and had then worn them to kill Jaden.

But an Old Bailey jury convicted him of murder and of possessing an offensive weapon by a majority of 11-to-one last week.

Jaden’s mother Jada Bailey remembered a ‘loving, caring, family-oriented’ son, in a statement read to the court.

Ms Bailey said: ‘Negative things [have] been said about Jaden.

‘He was a loving, caring, family-oriented little boy. He was a loyal friend to me.

‘He was fascinated by cars and motorbikes, it’s almost been an obsession of his and he spent time taking them apart in his garden.

‘He had an ambition to start his own clothing line which he called YP for ‘Young Productions’ and he began making sketches of clothes he wanted to produce.

Majdouline (left after being found guilty) was seen wearing blue jogging bottoms on CCTV on the day of the murder, which were later seized from his home

‘He had been genuinely concerned about the state of some of those less well off than him in Nottingham.

‘He purchased gloves from Primark and would hand them out to those on the streets in winter time to make Christmas more bearable.

‘At his tender age he showed empathy for humanity – he was a remarkable human being.

‘Life has been so difficult since the barbaric attack, I feel like it’s a dream and I will wake up and he will be there with us.

‘I find everything a challenge – I can’t sleep at night, I tend to sleep in the day.’

Prosecutor Oliver Glasgow added: ‘She says she feels let down as a family from several organisations and says ‘now we no longer have Jaden I feel all of this could be avoided.

Jaden, pictured with boxer Anthony Joshua, suffered nine stab wounds and bled to death

Jaden (pictured) was ‘butchered’ as he lay seriously hurt and defenceless on the ground 

‘No parent should have to bury a child before themselves.”

The prosecutor argued that the use of knives and hooded clothing and the destruction of evidence aggravated the brutal murder.

Jaden’s sister Leah Moodie added: ‘To describe the pain my family and I feel is simply not possible to do with words.

‘My younger brother was the sweetest and most caring child I’ve ever known.

‘He will live on with me forever.

Jaden’s mother’s plea: Quit drugs to stop children ‘dropping like flies’ 

Jaden Moodie’s mother has pleaded with Britons to stop taking drugs as children are ‘dropping like flies’. 

In an interview with ITV News London, Jada Bailey called on people to question if taking drugs was worth it.

She said: ‘Everyone has freedom of choice. I’m not here to judge. Only God is the judge.

‘But when you see children dropping like flies all around, that’s when you have to look into yourself and say, well, is this really worth it? Is this habit worth it?

‘There’s lots of people to blame. It’s the groomers, it’s the dealers. It’s all sorts. But I think when children are dying, you really have to ask this question, is it really worth it? ‘

On her ‘beautiful’ son’s attackers, she said: ‘When they were killing him they could see he was a child.

‘So I’ve got no sympathy and no words. They were cowards. He (Majdouline) killed a child. He’s a child killer.’

She went on: ‘I just miss him so terribly. I just want him home. I really do because he had his whole life ahead of him and had so much ambition and he loved everybody, was such a fun-loving young lad that would give his shirt off his back to anyone.

‘And that was his only downfall. He was such a loyal friend. All the problems or challenges that came along was all because he was a loyal friend.’

When he was in school, ‘brazen’ individuals came to the gates to groom children, but Jaden was no drug dealer or ‘kingpin’ at the age of 14, she said.

Ms Bailey said: ‘You send your child to school and you think they’re going to be safe.

‘So a lot of the security and police that they’ve assigned need to be assigned to the school gate and get them groomers away from the children.’ 

‘Even with past mistakes, no one deserves to die the way he did. He was murdered brutally and he did not stand a chance against all four.

‘I just want justice for my brother and though we can’t bring him back I don’t want another family to go through this.

‘This process has been exhausting beyond imagination.

‘As Jaden would say, ‘today is today, tomorrow is tomorrow, and yesterday is a thing of the past. I’m heartbroken. The pain is the most hurtful thing I’ve ever felt.’

Chantelle, his second older sister, said the ‘high-profile’ case had left her feeling her little brother was the one on trial.

The 27-year-old said in a statement: ‘My life will never be the same.

‘Losing a brother that was only 14 and should be still alive and having a mum who has to bury him – I’m still in shock, this has hurt me badly to the point where I can’t do much more with my life.

‘Me and my family will never see him again – it’s sad how they portrayed Jaden.

‘I feel like Jaden is on trial and can’t speak for himself.

‘My heart is empty waiting to be filled again and to know my life.

‘I feel scared to go anywhere. 2019 has been a horrible year for the family.

‘It has affected us and strangers because it was so high-profile.

‘I’m not sure what he did to deserve it I just know my life is not the same.’

Jaden’s third older sister Jamilla spoke of the sense of failure she felt for not protecting him from the murder.

Jamila Moodie added: ‘Even though words can’t describe the horrific loss Jaden was like my best friend but in a brotherly form. I feel I failed him as a big sister because I’ve allowed this to happen to him whereas I was supposed to protect him as his big sister.’

The 19-year-old wept and prayed in the dock today (weds) before blowing a kiss to his mum in the public gallery.

The gallery was packed with 26 friends and family members of the victim who stayed silent as Majdouline was jailed for life with a minimum term of 21 years.

The Common Serjeant of London, Judge Richard Marks, QC, told Majdouline: ‘Your victim Jaden Moodie was just 14 when he was murdered by you and others.

‘It is clear as one would imagine that this family are devastated by his killing.

‘That he became involved when he was 13 is truly shocking but none of that means he deserved to die let alone in the way he did.

Majdouline at a Travelodge hotel before he stabbed Jaden in Leyton, East London, on January 8

A pair of blue jogging bottoms Majdouline was seen wearing on the day of the murder, which were seized from his home during a search on January 15

‘Your life too has through no fault of your own been blighted by huge personal difficulty from a young age, the impact on you of which I in no way underestimate.

‘You were a victim of modern slavery.

How gang members terrorised Jaden’s family before murder

The family of Jaden Moodie were terrorised by gang members in the months before his murder, a court was told.

Jaden, 14, was said to be the youngest member of the Let’s Get Rich gang, otherwise known as the Beaumont Crew, before he was killed by rival Mali Boys earlier this year.

He became involved with the gang in east London after his family sent him away Nottingham because of problems with a gang there.

The Old Bailey was told of a series of chilling incidents before the killing, including one in which Jaden’s mother was threatened and forced to hand over cash on her doorstep in Nottingham by another gang.

Jada Bailey had called police after an older youth arrived on her doorstep and demanded money on January 8 2018 – exactly a year before Jaden’s murder.

She told officers that the 16-year-old gang member had told her Jaden owed him money and ‘something would happened to her or her son if they did not pay’, the court was told.

She expressed concerns that she or her son would be stabbed if they did not pay up.

According to agreed facts read to court, she told how her son was living in London due to ‘ongoing issues’ with these youths.

She said Jaden was looking after a gun, a knife and drugs for them and had been caught by police.

On July 18 last year, Ms Bailey complained to social services that she had been forced to hand over £300 to get rid of boys from her doorstep.

She found a large knife on her property, jurors were told.

She also revealed that the previous month a youth had turned up at her daughter’s work and threatened her and her family.

In August last year, Jaden was outside his home in London when a youth, believed to be a ‘Beaumont gang elder’, pulled up in a blue BMW and beckoned him over.

He told him: ‘Your name has bullets on it. Keep away from Beaumont, the road is not for you.’

One of Jaden’s friends told police that he had called him hours before the murder on January 8 this year and said: ‘I’m in beef again.’

Jurors heard Jaden was ‘laughing’ and the friend did not take him seriously at the time.

Ms Bailey sat in court throughout the trial of her son’s killer Ayoub Majdouline and was reduced to tears as she watched shocking CCTV footage of his murder.

‘As young as 15 you became involved in selling drugs for others, in due course what is now called county lines which one hears, depressingly, too much of these days.

‘It is apparent that this incident has all the hallmarks of being a gang-related killing.

‘You were one of five males who were in a stolen Mercedes vehicle.

‘It is absolutely clear to me that you were out looking for serious trouble of some sort.

‘Be that as it may when Jaden Moodie was spotted riding a moped he rapidly became a target.

‘The Mercedes speedily did a U-turn as was seen on the CCTV and shortly thereafter when the Mercedes was driven towards the moped he was mowed down as was chillingly seen on the footage.

‘In the few seconds that followed, while he lay defenceless on the ground having been catapulted into the air as a result of the collision he was viciously stabbed nine times a number of which used severe force.

‘The nature and ferocity of the attack leaves me in no doubt that your intention was to kill him.

‘You went to a nearby churchyard to destroy the clothing and thereby cover your tracks. This was to your undoing as the fire only destroyed them in part.

‘Even by the standards of gang and drug-related killings, which this court deals with all too frequently, this is a truly shocking case.’

Jurors were visibly shocked at they watched the horrific footage of the moment of Jaden’s death which had been issued at the request of the victim’s family.

The court heard Majdouline was groomed from the age of 16 by Mali Boys ‘olders’ to work for their County Lines gang.

He was confirmed as a victim of modern slavery by the National Crime Agency (NCA) after he went missing from his ‘unhappy’ foster placement for over a month.

The teenager claimed he was led astray after his Moroccan father was murdered and he was excluded from school.

He roamed the streets of London armed with a knife and carrying up to £2,000-worth of drugs at a time for his recruiters.

‘I just had bad influences from my exclusion unit that I got sent to after I got excluded from school when my dad died and I don’t think I was thinking properly,’ he said.

‘I didn’t know much about dealing drugs but someone in my class there told me about it.’

Majdouline would be sent from Leyton to Basingstoke and Ipswich to push heroin and crack for the Somali kingpins.

He insisted he had nothing to do with the killing but the court heard how he and other gang members had spent the evening driving around in the stolen black Mercedes B class looking for rivals.

James Scobie, QC, told the court that Majdouline was the most ‘broken’ defendant he had ever met in his 35 years as a defence barrister.

The barrister argued that the teenager’s troubled childhood had thrown him onto the wrong path but that he had the ‘capacity for love.’

A pair of yellow rubber gloves Majdouline was wearing when he stabbed Jaden on January 8

He asked the judge to show ‘mercy’ in his sentencing.

Mr Scobie said: ‘I’m 35 years this side of the court and I’ve never seen someone more broken than this man.

‘He’s never really been given a chance and I don’t exaggerate it.

‘He’s had significant disruption from trauma and exposure to certain ideologies, bereavement and instability in care arrangements.

‘[His social services report] goes through line after line of what is a chilling paragraph.

‘Each line hammering home his non-existent childhood. It’s just non-existent in the chances he had.

‘It’s absolutely classical that he should end up as a victim of modern slavery.

‘In a way the vulnerability of this young man who awaits a life sentence – he knows what he’s getting – it would be remiss of me not to state this obvious. He’s had a shattered existence.

Burnt clothes matching those of the attackers were later found in a churchyard. When the remains were examined, officers found part of a purple plastic drawstring bag which was the same as what Majdouline was seen carrying

‘What difference should that make? A substantial difference.

‘The evidence might be overwhelming [against him].

‘What is equally overwhelming is that this young man’s history is something that is truly exceptional in my experience and what shines out is my experience of him.

How Jaden came to London for a ‘new start’ 

Jaden Moodie moved to the capital from his home city of Nottingham last year with his mum Jada and four older siblings.

They came to east London in search of a ‘new start’ after Jaden was caught in the street with a pistol and a Rambo knife and handed a caution when he was 13.

Relatives believed the young Arsenal fan would benefit from moving closer to his grandma, who lived in the Leyton area.

But within six months he became the youngest casualty of a bloody war between two rival gangs laying claim to Waltham turf.

According to Oliver Glasgow, prosecuting, Jaden was ‘no ordinary 14-year-old’.

His Instagram and Facebook accounts were littered with selfies captioned ‘driller’ and ‘trapper kid’ – urban slang for a young drug mule.

He posed in a balaclava on mopeds without number plates making gang sign gestures and waving bundles of £50 notes.

Despite harbouring dreams of becoming an entrepreneur and making the top sets at Heathcote School in Chingford he was excluded just weeks before his death for the troubling social media posts.

The talented youngster started his own clothing line at 13 and a keen interest in boxing saw him meet heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.

But he was also mired in a shadowy underworld of County Lines drug-dealing.

Police discovered Jaden at a Bournemouth address with a wad of cash and wraps of crack cocaine in October last year.

He had been pushing drugs for the Beaumont Crew – AKA Let’s Get Rich – one of the largest and most organised gangs in London dating back to 1990.

The court heard the teenager had downplayed the trouble he was in up until his dying moment.

Three hours before tragedy struck he joked to a friend that he was ‘in beef again’ after a Beaumont ‘older’ paid him an ominous visit.

‘Your name has bullets in it,’ the kingpin warned. ‘Keep away from Beaumont, the road is not for you.’

‘He is somebody who has the capacity for decency, for fondness and love. His love for his mother is quite exceptional.

‘You won’t hear a word said against her. That is a gesture bearing in mind his history.

‘His time in prison has been marked with attacks on him. He had his jaw broken very early on.

‘He was attacked by the same two boys again and we found him semi-conscious when we spoke to him.

‘He’s going to have to look over his shoulder for many years because there will be people out there looking to even the score.

‘The murder of his father in January 2015, although they were apart for much of their lives he respected him and was very interested in his Moroccan background and that part of his family.

‘His murder in those very grim circumstances received national news at the time which caused him to be very traumatised.

‘He has lurched from one disaster to the other.

‘He does have the capacity to steer down the right route and I’ve spoken about what it will mean for him. If he goes down the right path he has the capacity to eventually come out.

‘If he doesn’t he will never come out.

‘Nobody, least of all this defendant, wants to hear the trauma of this loving family.

‘I think the word ‘mercy’ is important here.

‘On finding Jaden Moodie the Mercedes drove straight towards the moped swerving onto the same side of the road so that it struck Jaden Moodie head on,’ said prosecutor Oliver Glasgow.

‘The force of the impact virtually destroyed the moped, the front wing of the Mercedes sustained significant damage and Jaden Moodie whose helmet flew off his head went head first into the front of the car before collapsing to the ground.

‘The damage was catastrophic and Jaden Moodie slowly bled to death in the road.

‘These are young men who have no qualms about carrying and using deadly weapons to kill young men who have no qualms about attacking their victim on a public street, and young men who have no qualms about playing out their petty rivalries using the blade of a knife.

‘None of those attackers on the road in which they killed Jaden could have known it was covered by CCTV a few metres either way the attack would not have been captured in such horrific technicolour.’

In his closing speech Mr Glasgow rubbished the killer’s ‘preposterous’ claim that another gang member stole his clothes and was wearing them when he murdered the schoolboy.

Jaden was the youngest member of the Beaumont Crew but hid his real age from his recruiters.

The Beaumont Crew has been running for more than 20 years and is one of the biggest and most organised gangs in the capital.

They are known rivals of the Mali Boys with both gangs laying claim to Leyton turf.

Majdouline, of Wembley, was convicted of murder and possessing an offensive weapon.

How Ayoub Majdouline carried a knife ‘for safety’ as he roamed the streets with £2,000-worth of drugs 

Ayoub Majdouline spent his childhood between the homes of his divorced parents

The son of a Moroccan chauffeur and an Irish housewife, Ayoub Majdouline spent his childhood between the homes of his divorced parents in London until his father died in 2015.

The loss triggered a spiral of abuse which saw the teenager placed in an ‘unhappy’ foster home after being physically and emotionally hounded first by his stepfather then his aunt.

After getting excluded from school he was sent to a pupil referral unit where he claimed a classmate introduced him to the world of drug-dealing.

He began selling a small stash cannabis before meeting ‘olders’ from the notorious Mali Boys gang who groomed him into selling class As for their far-reaching county drug lines.

‘I just had bad influences from my exclusion unit that I got sent to after I got excluded from school when my dad died and I don’t think I was thinking properly,’ Majdouline said. ‘I didn’t know much about dealing drugs but someone in my class told me about it.

‘At this time I was not getting on with my foster placement, I wasn’t really staying there because I was unhappy there and I was staying at a lot of different places and they (the drug-dealers) sorted a place for me to sleep and somewhere that will pay for my food and stuff like that.’

The teenager was taught to how to weigh and bag heroin and crack cocaine in a shadowy safe house in Leyton, East London, before burying them in the flower pots outside to blindside police.

He used the ‘distinctive Marigold-type’ rubber gloves worn by Jaden Moodie’s killer to handle the drugs, so potent were they that he risked getting high simply by touching them.

Majdouline carried a knife ‘for his own safety’ as he roamed the streets of London carrying up to £2,000 worth of stock at a time.

Majdouline was physically and emotionally hounded first by his stepfather then his aunt

He said he was told to arm himself by his recruiters in order to protect their supply from robbery.

The drug dealer was first caught red-handed in October 2016, then 16, when he was seen loitering on a bike in a churchyard with a blade in his pocket.

He pointed to a black lip and cuts to his face while he told police he had been recently attacked and only carried the knife out of fear.

But his conviction on November 18 marked the first of many drugs and knife offences.

He was arrested less than a month later at an Islington Sports Direct hiding a knife in his backpack and twice again the next summer in Basingstoke for carrying heroin and a blade.

By this time Majdouline had been sent out to the shires and ports as part of the county lines network to sell drugs in areas less soaked in ‘competition’.

After a six-month spell in Feltham Young Offenders’ Institution he was spotted in both Basingstoke and Southampton in the company of well-known Mali Boys gang members.

Majdouline was recorded as a victim of modern slavery by the National Crime Authority (NCA) when he went missing from his foster home for over a month later in 2017.

He claimed he sunk back into drug-dealing after facing complications applying for Jobseeker’s Allowance while staying in a hostel when he turned 18.

The 19-year-old said he briefly worked for a charity soup kitchen but struggled to make ends meet and frittered what money he had left away on a weed habit.

‘I asked the youth offending team and social services for help but I didn’t really feel like I received support to be honest,’ he said.

‘The hostel I was in was just an empty room with no furniture and I just felt like I was on my own. I didn’t really know how to budget my money.

‘I got £50 a week from my social worker and I didn’t really know how to budget that between topping up my oyster card, getting food, buying furniture and smoking weed.

‘The Job Centre application was just confusing I didn’t know how to do it. I told them I didn’t understand and the staff there, no one helped me,’ Majdouline said.

Catherine Obourne, prosecuting, had detailed the killer’s troubled upbringing and his previous convictions to the jury in a set of agreed facts.

She said: ‘He had been removed from the care of his mother due to abuse against him and his siblings by his step-father and taken into the care of his aunt where he was again physically and emotionally abused.

‘On 31 October 2016 Majdouline was then 16 and was seen loitering next to a pushbike in a churchyard.

‘Police searched Majdouline and recovered a kitchen knife and in his left hand small bag of cannabis – he was arrested when interviewed stated he had recently been attacked and was fearful of his safety.

‘He pointed out bruising and a cut lip on face and he was charged. On April 21, 2017 a member of the public in Basingstoke saw him and suspected he was dealing drugs.

‘He was found in possession of large quantity of wraps and a knife and pleaded guilty to possession of a bladed article and drugs.

‘On June 30, 2017 police attended a Basingstoke address where Majdouline was found at the address with a known Mali Boy gang member aged 19.

‘On November 22, 2018 there was a failure to comply with an exclusion direction. He had been loitering outside on the High Road in Leyton where residents complained of drug taking and drug dealing.

‘He was stopped and searched and in possession of large amount of cash and a key. He provided false details and later pleaded guilty.

‘There are drug-related text messages [from Majdouline]. On April 30, 2018 his phone was seized. 

‘He sent messages sending update messages to a peer higher up him in the hierarchy about what stock had been sold and what debts were owed.

‘He went missing for over a month and a half and had been seen in Southampton with a known drug dealer in an area which he had no connections.

‘Mali Boys and other criminal gangs are involved in child exploitation and there is active grooming of young children who are sent to other areas of the country to sell drugs on their behalf, commonly referred to as County Lines.’

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