A builder was knifed to death in a "violent and wholly unnecessary" attack by two 17-year-olds outside a Lee shopping centre, the Old Bailey heard today.

Alex Scott, 26, was with friends outside an off-licence in Eltham Road, beside the Leegate centre, at 9.30pm on August 10 last year when an argument broke out with two hooded youths on bikes.

Mr Scott followed the two boys - Kai Steele and Dillon Beckford, now both 18 - into an alleyway where Steele stabbed him twice to the aaorta and heart, jurors heard.

Prosecutor Simon Denison said: "His death was as sudden as it was violent and wholly unnecessary.

“Another life taken away in an instant by the use of a knife that was taken on to the streets for no reason."

Before Steele moved to Lamport Close in Woolwich, he had lived alongside Beckford at Knowland House in Lee High Road.

The pair met there that evening before cycling off to the off-licence, the court heard, where they encountered Mr Scott and three friends who had been drinking and gambling that evening.

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Mr Denison explained: "Words were needlessly exchanged. It turned into an argument.

"The two defendants went into an alleyway a few yards away and the others followed.

"The argument turned into a fight. It has to be acknowledged that Alex Scott played his part by being unnecessarily confrontational and he appears to have thrown the first punch.

"But there was absolutely no justification for what happened next. Kai Steele took out a knife that he had in his pocket and he lunged at Alex Scott twice."

He went on: "Twenty or so seconds after he threw the first punch, Alex Scott collapsed on to the pavement where he died.

"The two defendants cycled away leaving behind the devastation to Alex Scott's friends and family that that sudden violent act had caused."

Mr Scott, a Balfour Beatty worker who lived nearby with his girlfriend, was looked after by firefighters from Lee Green station until paramedics arrived.

But despite their efforts he was pronounced dead at 10.30pm.

The two teenagers were arrested in the days afterwards. A pair of blood stained trainers were found in Steele's room, the court heard.

During police interviews, Beckford gave a prepared statement, saying a drunken Mr Scott had started a "scuffle" with the pair but he was unaware of a knife being involved.

Both defendants deny murder.

The trial continues.