Police have charged another man with the murder of Turkish DJ Koray Alpergin (pictured top), whose body was found in woodland in Loughton last month, two days after going missing with his girlfriend.
Junior Kettle, of Kingsdown Road, Islington, appeared at Bromley Magistrates’ Court on Monday, 7 November, charged with two counts of kidnap and one count of murder. He was remanded to appear at the Old Bailey Court on Friday, 6 January 2023.
Kettle, aged 31, becomes the fourth man to be charged with Koray’s murder. The first three men to be charged with murder and kidnap are: Erdogan Ulcay, 55, of Oakeshott Avenue, Camden, Ali Kavak, 25, of De Quincey Road, Tottenham, and a 17-year-old boy, who were also remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on 6 January 2023.
A fourth man, aged 55, who was arrested on suspicion of murder, was bailed pending further enquiries until mid-November.
The horrific murder of DJ Koray, 43, has shocked the British Turkish community. His body was found near to Oakwood Hill Industrial Estate in Loughton at around midday on Saturday, 15 October by officers from Essex Police. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Friends had alerted police at lunchtime the previous day that Koray and his girlfriend were missing. The pair had not been seen since Thursday night, after being abducted from outside Koray’s home in Ebony Crescent, Enfield, as they returned from an evening out in central London.
At a court hearing at the Old Bailey last month, Nicholas Hearn, prosecuting, said that Koray and his partner Gözde Dalbudak, 33, were returning to their North London home on October 13, when they were confronted by a number of assailants:
“They were attacked by individuals wearing white masks and bundled into a van and taken to a location and held there against their will,” Mr Hearn told the court.
“Mr Alpergin was badly beaten and murdered. On Saturday 15 October, two days later, Mr Alpergin’s body was found by members of the public in a woodland area in Loughton, Essex. The body was naked and had sustained burns, bruises and cuts,” Mr Hearn continued.
A post-mortem gave the preliminary cause of death as strangulation, blunt force trauma and damage to the internal organs and ribs.
Ms. Dalbudak was found unharmed.
A provisional trial date has been set for 18 September 2023.
Hundreds of people turned out for Koray’s funeral in Enfield on Monday, 31 October. The father of two and popular DJ, who founded Bizim FM and later Kral FM, was laid to rest at Lavender Hill Cemetery.
Detectives from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command continue to support Mr Alpergin’s family.
