Mother who was shot through a door was an unintended victim of a gang feud, the court said

Jurors were told that 42-year-old Lianne Gordon was the unintentional victim of a dispute between two gangs when she was killed at her home in Hackney, east London.

A 17-year-old boy is accused of the murder of Ms Gordon and the attempted murder of a 17-year-old youth and a 21-year-old man on the same day.

The shooting is said to have been the culmination of a series of incidents involving the juvenile defendant and 21-year-old Elijah Seriki.

It is alleged they threatened Ms Gordon's son with a large knife as the victim smoked a cigarette on his doorstep on October 1 last year.

The defendants are charged with rioting, possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, and possession of a bladed article during an alleged ride out of their territory the following day.

Opening the trial on Thursday, Mark Fenhall KC said: 'Lianne Gordon was hiding behind her front door when (the teenager) shot her on December 5 last year.

“She was almost certainly not the target. But her tragic death was the culmination of an escalating dispute between two gangs. That dispute involved both (the teen) and Elijah Seriki.”

The prosecutor said Ms Gordon lived in Vine Close with her 16-year-old daughter and 21-year-old son Kaymound, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair.

At the time of the shooting, Mr Gordon was taking a shower when his sister came out of her room and found their mother slumped on the floor. He was with her when she died, Mr Fenhalls said.

The prosecutor told jurors they were shocked by the “obvious devastation” to Ms Gordon's children and wider family, but urged them to put aside any feelings.

He added: “The Gordon family were not the only target – they were on holiday in Jamaica on December 2nd and did not return until the morning of December 5th.”

Mr Fenhalls said the shooting was the result of a dispute between two Hackney gangs – the Pembury Gang, to which the defendants belonged, and the A-Road Gang, to which Ms Gordon's son Kaymound had links.

The jury was told that the young man denied membership in the A-Road Gang, but that the problems began in 2019 with the murder of his friend Dotz.

Jurors were told that both sides had shown disrespect for each other in music and on social media over the years and that there had been acts of revenge.

Jurors heard that Mr Gordon admitted hitting Seriki in a shop because he thought Seriki was about to pull out a knife.

Regarding the incident on October 1 last year, he said the defendants “literally tried to stab us with a large black blade” on his doorstep.

The juvenile defendant returned to Hackney despite his family moving away in June 2022 to distance him from the gang, the court heard.

He had already been convicted several times since he was 15 years old.

Among them was a conviction for attempted murder in connection with an incident at Hackney Central station on March 1 last year, the court was told.

Mr Fenhalls said that although the defendant was involved in planning and passing on information, he was not personally involved in the violence.

The court was told that Seriki, from Hackney, had previous convictions for drugs and weapons offences, including a zombie knife, since he was 15 years old.

Both defendants deny the charges against them and the trial continues at the Old Bailey.