22-07-2025
Prolific phone snatcher who jumped out of car to stab aristocrat's footballer grandson, 20, to death with a machete 'in botched mobile theft' is jailed for 24 years
A prolific phone snatcher who jumped out a car to stab an aristocrat's grandson to death with a machete has been jailed for a minimum of 24 years.
Oguzcan Dereli, 27, knifed 20-year-old Abdul-Latif Pouget, 20, in the thigh near Farringdon station on October 18 last year.
Mr Pouget was the grandson of Baron Pouget, while his great-grandfather had been banker George de Vere Drummond, godson of King George VI.
The Pouget family has links to Chateau Pouget, a winery in the Margaux appellation of Bordeaux, France.
Known as 'Abz', the victim was a talented footballer and played on the left wing for Zaza FC in the Barnet Sunday Football League, the Old Bailey heard. He was sitting on his moped in Back Hill at the time of the attack.
Dereli was caught on CCTV stabbing Mr Pouget with the machete before speeding off in the car.
He has an appalling criminal record of 39 previous convictions and was jailed for 18 months in 2018 for a series of phone thefts in north London while riding pillion on the back of a moped.
Mr Pouget fought for his life for three days before he died in hospital.
Dereli, who was working as a cannabis dealer at the time, denied but was convicted by an Old Bailey jury of murder and having an offensive weapon.
Mr Pouget's brother, Badruddin, turned to address Dereli in the dock as he gave a victim impact statement from the witness box.
'Mr Dereli, when Abz was nine you had your first conviction,' he said. 'When Abz was collecting medals you were collecting bank cards and snatching phones from strangers. You were caught hiding under a mattress.'
Badruddin said his brother was 'a young man who, unlike you, was loved for who he was, not feared for what he might do'.
He added: 'I hope that justice might speak for Abz now since you never let him speak again.'
The motive for the murder is unclear, although the prosecution claimed Dereli was attempting to steal Mr Pouget's mobile phone as he sat on his bike. There was also a suggestion the two men had fallen out over a debt.
The victim's mother Kawsar Pouget said in a statement that her son was 'kind, respectful, polite and humble'.
'He was a talented and gifted footballer who was a role model to those younger than him. He was young, intelligent and full of promise,' Mrs Pouget added.
The mother said her son, who was one of seven children, had hoped to become a professional footballer.
'He bought warmth and laughter to every room. His murder shattered the natural order of things and has broken something deep within us.
'Every member of the family carries this loss. Our family gatherings now take place at the graveside.'
Dereli told the court Mr Pouget had wrongly accused him of robbery and he had got out the car to confront him, using the machete for protection.
Mr Pouget pulled up his moped at Back Hill at 9.27pm on October 18 last year.
A minute later the Ford Focus estate driven by Dereli turned into that hill from Clerkenwell Road.
'As he left the car he had a large machete in his right hand. He ran straight over to Mr Pouget who was still sat on his moped,' prosecutor Danny Robinson said earlier.
'He struck him with the machete and then stabbed him with it to his right thigh. The stab wound severed an artery causing instant massive blood loss and Mr Pouget collapsed on the pavement.
'The defendant got back in his car with the machete and drove off leaving Mr Pouget fighting for his life on the floor.'
The whole incident had taken just 13 seconds.
'Members of the public and one of Mr Pouget's friends tried to help him as did paramedics and police officers,' Mr Robinson said.
'He was taken to Royal London Hospital but despite the best efforts of all those involved in his care he died at 11.15am on 21 October.'
At the time of the murder, Dereli's partner had recently given birth but he had never seen the child, claiming he was 'scared'.
He was with another woman when he checked into the Easy Hotel on Old Street on the evening of October 19.
Dereli was arrested there the following morning but the murder weapon was never recovered.
The court heard his family of eleven were Kurdish asylum seekers who all lived in a three bedroomed council flat.
His father was unemployed and his mother was too ill to work.
Dereli, of Holloway, denied but was convicted of murder and having an offensive weapon.
Passing sentence Judge Sarah Whitehouse said: 'I am not satisfied this was a murder carried out in the circumstances of a robbery.
'We shall probably never know why you decided to get out of your car and run over and stab Mr Pouget.'
But the judge added there had been rumours of a disagreement over a debt.
'Some of the rumours were that you and Mr Pouget had an altercation that very evening in which he had got the better of you and your friends had encouraged you to go out and seek revenge,' the judge said.
'I am satisfied you had formed the intention to cause him really serious bodily harm when you stopped and got out of your car at speed, carrying that machete.
'Your actions caused incalculable distress to Abdul-Latif Pouget's family.'
Dereli, who was smartly dressed in a suit and tie, showed no trace of emotion as he was sentenced and did not look back at the packed public gallery as he was led to the cells.
