Radio DJ killed and tortured with naked body dumped in woodlands, court hears

26 September 2023 , 12:29

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Mr Alpergin was a well-known DJ in the London Turkish community (Image: PA)

A Turkish radio DJ was kidnapped, tortured, killed and had his naked body dumped in woodland while his girlfriend was locked in a toilet for two days, a court heard.

Koray Alpergin’s body was found near the Oakwood Hill Industrial Estate in Loughton, Essex, on October 15, 2022. He had been kidnapped along with his girlfriend Gozde Dalbudak, 34, from outside his Enfield flat where they were “frogmarched” into a white van after arriving home from an expensive dinner in Mayfair.

Northern Cypriot Mr Alpergin was well-known in the North London Turkish community, as the owner of Bizim FM radio station - and with high profile connections including P Diddy and ‘Salt Bae’. But according to a friend he had been acting strangely after returning from a trip to Turkey in September 2022. “I could tell he was very stressed,” Parveen Ramjeawon told the Old Bailey. “He said he had said the wrong thing to the wrong person and they wanted to question him.”

Mr Alpergin was beaten with a baseball bat, had boiling water poured on him, and other terrible methods of torture used against him, jurors were told. His body was stripped and dumped in the woodland and all vehicles used were set alight - before the corpse was found by a dog walker. Meanwhile, Ms Dalbudak was locked in a toilet for two days.

Koray Alpergin was known to celebs such as P Diddy and Salt Bae

Five men have been charged with murder and false imprisonment in connection with Mr Alpergin’s death. Samuel Owusu-Opuku, 35, Steffan Gordon, 34, Tejean Kennedy, 33, Junior Kettle, 32, and Ali Kavak, 26, deny the charges. Kennedy, Owusu-Opuku, Kettle and Kavak deny charges of kidnap - a charge which Gordon admits.Kavak and Erdogan Ulcay, 56, deny perverting the course of justice by assisting with the disposal of Mr Alpergin's body or the destruction by fire of a Fiat Diablo van and Renault Megane.

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Mr Alpergin and Ms Dalbudak had first met in June 2022 through a mutual friend, and they had flirted for a couple of months before she decided to book a trip to London from October 10-16 to see him. According to Mehmet Kocakerim, a restaurant owner who was friends with Mr Alpergin for 15 years, he called her “my future wife”.

Mr Kocakerim learnt on the Sunday 10 October that his friend had gone missing, one day after Mr Alpergin and Ms Dalbudak had eaten at his restaurant. On Saturday 15, someone came into his restaurant at 3pm and said “don’t you recognise me?”. Mr Kocakerim responded: “no, I don't recognise you madam”, before she revealed she was Mr Alpergin’s girlfriend. “She had a bruised nose and bruises under her eyes, she had a big hat on her head and an oversized green jacket,” Mr Kocakerim explained.

Ms Dalbudak was visiting for 6 days when she was kidnapped

She had apparently been arguing with Mr Alpergin before she came

Ms Dalbudak asked for money as she wanted to leave the country, and said she didn’t want to get police involved in the horrific incident. When kidnapped, she had been threatened with a bread knife and told to shut up while a few men held onto Mr Alpergin. “Be quiet my love,” Mr Alpergin had told her to try and keep her calm.

She was punched twice in the face and thought she was going to die - and her next memory was being in a dark room and hearing Mr Algerin being beaten. Ms Dalbudak was then blindfolded, tied up and locked in a toilet. After her release, she went to Kentish Town police station and was placed in special protection.

Ms Ramjeawon - the friend who saw Mr Alpergin acting “stressed” after a visit to Turkey, explained that the DJ would fly to Turkey to DJ, holiday and see friends and family. But after returning in summer 2022: “He wasn't himself. He was completely different. He's always been a happy go lucky guy- he was very caring, very loving, always laughing, joking - he liked to have fun.

“When he was stressed he was very quiet. I could tell he was very stressed. He said there was a lot going on in his mind. He said he had said the wrong thing to the wrong person and they wanted to question him. I asked him more but he never ever told me anything. He always kept me away from harm's way,” she said.

Essex police cordoned off the crime scene after Mr Alpergin's body was found in the woodlands (Peter Manning/LNP)

After a gym visit together on 24 September Ms Ramjeawon hung out at Mr Alpergin’s - but he said he would go in the back entrance. “I found that odd,” she said. As they hung out for two hours, Mr Alpergin was “very quiet- preoccupied on his phone, very minimal conversation”. She added: “When we leave he would normally drop me to the back of the building door, instead he didn't and he said to me when you're in the car park let me know if you see a white van.”

“He was still quiet - he was just never the same. His brain was just so preoccupied that I knew he was going through something.” Ms Ramjeawon added that she had not met Ms Dalbudak but had heard of her - and that Mr Alpergin “didn’t want her to come over”.

The trial continues today (Tuesday 26).

Alex Croft