An innocent man died after he was stabbed 25 times by an armed mob at the height of a gang war, a court has heard.

Andrew Jaipaul, 21, from Finsbury Park, was in the "wrong place at the wrong time" when he was attacked by members of the 'Busy Block' clan, it was alleged yesterday.

The savage mob then chanted their gang name as they fled the scene after repeatedly knifing their victim, the Old Bailey was told.

Mr Jaipaul, a painter and decorator, was walking home through the Andover Estate in Holloway, north London, when he was confronted by a group of up to 20 attackers.

They chased him into a children's playground where he was repeatedly knifed in front of terrified residents on June 26, 2011.

His killers were hunting down those linked to rival groups based around the estate after an escalating series of tit-for-tat stabbings, jurors heard.

Tommy McInerney, 21, Jojo Mafwa, Allen Kalema, both 19, Tirrell Ball-Thomas, Orvill Sterling, both 18, and Warren Brooks, 23, are all said to have carried out the killing.

Two boys, aged 17 and 15, who cannot be identified, also face identical charges.

They are alleged to have been linked to the Busy Block gang, based on the nearby Elthorne Estate.

Prosecutor Zoe Johnson QC said their victim had been "in the wrong place at the wrong time".

"He found himself the victim of escalating attacks between rival gangs in north London," she said.

"Andrew Jaipaul was minding his own business when, out of nowhere, a large, armed gang came across him, decided to attack him, chased him down and brutally murdered him near a children's play area."

She added: "During the evening of June 26 the emergency services were alerted to the movement of a gang of young men by a number of calls from anxious members of the public.

"The callers told police a large number of aggressive and threatening youths were making their way through the Hornsey Road and Wray Crescent area heading in the direction of the Andover Estate.

"Members of the public saw and heard that group move through the area, pursue Andrew Jaipaul and kill him.

"As members of the group left they were heard to shout, 'Busy Block'."

McInerney, of Pilgrims Way, Upper Holloway; Kalema, of Round Mead, Stevenage, Hertfordshire; Brooks, of Ritchie Street, Islington; Mafwa, of St Margaret's Avenue, Tottenham; Ball-Thomas, of Colthurst Crescent, Finsbury Park, Sterling, of Green Street, Enfield; the 15 year-old and the 17-year-old, both from Upper Holloway, north London, all deny murder, conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm and violent disorder.

The trial continues.