A senior member of an organised crime group has been jailed for life after orchestrating a revenge shooting which left a restaurant owner with life-changing injuries amid a violent feud between rival London gangs.
Beytullah Gunduz, 40, a senior figure in the Hackney Turks gang, was sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday after being found guilty of conspiring to murder 38-year-old Onur Guzel.
Gunduz refused to attend court for sentencing and was jailed in his absence.
He was handed a life sentence and ordered to serve a minimum of 20 years before he can be considered for release.
Mr Guzel was shot outside his family’s Umut 2000 restaurant in Dalston on the night of June 20 last year.
Judge Mark Lucraft KC described the violence as part of a “long-running round of retaliatory attacks, murders and attempted murders” involving the Hackney Turks and rival Tottenham Turks.
Restaurant owner left with life-changing injuries
The shooting caused devastating injuries to Mr Guzel and has had a lasting impact on his life.
Reading from his victim impact statement, the judge told the court how the attack had changed Mr Guzel’s life and destroyed his sense of safety.
Mr Guzel said: “The attack did far more than injure me physically. It has altered the course of my life. It has taken my sense of safety.
“I’m trying every day to put the pieces back together but the truth is I am no longer the person I was before this happened.”
The court heard the shooting followed months of threats, intimidation and demands for money directed at members of the Guzel family.
Prosecutors said members of the Hackney Turks wrongly believed the family had paid £100,000 to the rival Tottenham Turks and demanded the same amount themselves.
The family did not pay and the threats escalated.
Family subjected to shootings and threats
Jurors heard that Mr Guzel’s brother’s home was targeted in a shooting in April 2024.
The attackers went to the wrong address and bullets instead struck a neighbouring property.
Two days later, five shots were fired at the family’s Umut 2000 restaurant during the early hours when nobody was inside.
The intimidation continued for months.
In November 2024, Mr Guzel’s brother received a message demanding £100,000 and threatening that members of the family would be killed if the money was not handed over.
After police became involved, prosecutors said the gang increased its demand to £300,000.
Mr Guzel’s sister-in-law subsequently received another threatening message.
It said: “You made it worse by letting the police know and now we are going to ask for more.
“We are going to do another shooting. The next one will be your head.”
Mr Guzel told jurors that neither he nor his family had ever paid money to either gang.
Shot while speaking to wife on phone
Shortly before 10pm on the night of the attack, Mr Guzel was standing outside his restaurant speaking to his wife on the phone.
He heard a loud bang before realising he had been shot.
Mr Guzel told the jury that he initially checked his chest and arms before lifting his shirt and seeing blood on his abdomen.
Customers and restaurant staff rushed to help him.
Two police officers provided first aid before he was taken to the Royal London Hospital.
The shooting left him with life-changing injuries.
Nine-year-old girl previously caught in gang violence
The sentencing came against the background of another shooting linked to the feud in which a nine-year-old girl was shot in the head outside a restaurant in Hackney.
Gunduz had been the intended target of that attack and had been sitting inside the restaurant shortly before the gunman opened fire.
The child suffered life-changing injuries.
In separate proceedings, gang associate Javon Riley was jailed for life with a minimum term of 34 years after being convicted of attempting to murder three men and causing grievous bodily harm to the girl.
Judge Lucraft said the case involving Mr Guzel was another example of innocent people suffering devastating consequences because of organised gang violence.
Gunduz denied involvement in the attack on Mr Guzel but was convicted of conspiracy to murder following a trial.
He knew Mr Guzel through being a regular customer at the family’s restaurant.
In mitigation, defence barrister Miranda Moore KC told the court Gunduz accepted that his “life choices” had disgraced and humiliated his parents.
Gunduz will serve a minimum of 20 years of his life sentence before becoming eligible to be considered for release.
