A DRUG gang kingpin faces life in prison after being found guilty of knifing a young man to death.

Abdul Deghayes was stabbed eight times during a “short, but vicious” attack in Elm Grove in Brighton.

The 22-year-old died in hospital from his injuries that were inflicted outside the Hanover Court flats on February 16 last year.

At Southwark Crown Court Daniel Macleod, 37, was found guilty of murder after a retrial.

The jury was told the exact motive for the killing may never be known.

The Argus:

Daniel Macleod has been found guilty of murder

He had claimed he was acting in lawful self defence and claimed Mr Deghayes was a “notorious” drug dealer in Brighton and Hove.

But Adam Feest QC, prosecuting, told the jury the injuries caused may have been to humiliate Mr Deghayes, who was stabbed in the back, legs and buttocks.

Macleod had no defensive injuries, while there was proof that a knife had gone through Mr Deghayes’ hand as he tried to protect himself.

The Argus:

Abdul Deghayes was killed

The victim had gone there to buy cocaine with his friend Colby Broderick, who witnessed the incident.

He tried to get his friend to safety in the car as Mr Deghayes lost consciousness in a pool of his own blood.

Mr Deghayes slumped across Mr Broderick, causing Mr Broderick to crash into cars nearby and panic.

Paramedics found Mr Deghayes and rushed him to hospital after the incident on February 16, 2019.

But Mr Deghayes died the next morning at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton at 6am.

Mr Feest told the jury that injuries to the legs and buttocks were sometimes inflicted with the intention of maiming and humiliating victims.

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He said such attacks were sometimes referred to as “bagging” or the “Turkish revenge” among members of the “drug-dealing, knife-wielding community”, leaving victims needing to use colostomy bags.

Macleod was known in Brighton as “Frank” and operated a drug dealing telephone line along with Stephen Burns, 56, and Abdi Dahir, 24.

Burns, formerly of Lennox Street, Brighton, was found not guilty of assisting an offender by the jury at Southwark Crown Court.

The Argus:

The scene in Elm Grove, Brighton

Dahir, of Meadowview, Brighton, Burns and Macleod, of Gypsy Road, Lambeth,all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs when almost £24,000 in cash was found at an address linked to MacLeod at Bristol Gate, Brighton during the course of the murder inquiry.

The Elm Grove murder caused shock in the community as the road was closed and forensics experts combed the area for clues.

One student said: “All the police cars were outside our house, and one of my friends had to be escorted by a policeman at 1am to get back in. It is scary and frightening, it has been a shock.”

You can keep informed of court reports on our Facebook group here: Sussex crime and court watch