Gang member jailed for 20 years for plotting gun attack

Beytullah Gunduz, a senior member of the Hackney Turks gang, has been sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in prison for plotting to murder Onur Guzel. Gunduz, 40, was sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday, having refused to attend the court hearing. The court heard that both the shooting of Mr Guzel and an earlier incident involving a stray bullet were part of a violent dispute between Gunduz's gang and a rival group, the Tottenham Turks.

Background to the feud

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The dispute between the Hackney Turks and Tottenham Turks reportedly originated from a fight at a snooker club in 2009, according to police. This long-standing feud has led to multiple violent incidents. In May 2024, gunmen opened fire outside the Evin Restaurant in Dalston, where Mr Gunduz had been minutes earlier. This shooting resulted in a nine-year-old girl sustaining a serious head wound from a stray bullet. Javon Riley, 33, who acted as a spotter and getaway driver in that May 2024 attack, was previously jailed for life with a minimum term of 34 years for causing grievous bodily harm with intent to the girl and attempting to murder three men, as reported by the BBC.

Onur Guzel targeted

The conspiracy for which Gunduz was sentenced involved the shooting of Onur Guzel, 38, outside his family's restaurant, also in Dalston, in June 2025. Mr Guzel told the court that he had been targeted for months. In November 2024, his brother received a text message demanding £100,000, accompanied by a photograph of a gun. Jurors were informed that in April 2025, gunmen aiming for Mr Guzel's brother's home mistakenly fired through a neighbour's door. Two days later, five shots were fired at the empty restaurant in the early hours of the morning. Mr Guzel stated that both these attacks were attributed to the Tottenham Turks. Following these events, the demand increased to £300,000, with his sister-in-law receiving a text warning of further violence. Mr Guzel reported that the Hackney Turks had also accused his family of paying £100,000 to the Tottenham Turks and demanded the same sum for themselves, claims his family denied.

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On 20 June 2025, Mr Guzel was shot in the lower abdomen while on a break from work. He described the aftermath in a victim impact statement, stating, "The truth is I am no longer the person I was before this happened." Judge Mark Lucraft KC noted that Mr Guzel's injuries were "permanent" and "irreversible."

Gunduz, who knew Mr Guzel as a restaurant patron, denied any involvement in the conspiracy. His previous convictions date back to 2008 and include possessing an offensive weapon and assaulting a police officer. In mitigation, Miranda Moore KC stated that Gunduz acknowledged his "life choices" had resulted in his parents lacking his support.