A man has been found guilty of murder almost 20 years after he beat a teenager with a bicycle chain and a piece of wood in a park in Deptford.
Jordan Burton, now 33, was just 14 when he caused the serious head injury that set in motion the death of 16-year-old Daniel Allright in Friendly Street Park in September 2006. A jury at the Old Bailey convicted him of murder on Tuesday (September 29).
Burton, of Achilles Street, Lewisham, will be sentenced by Judge Anthony Leonard KC on Wednesday (September 30).
What happened in Friendly Street Park
The court heard that Mr Allright was hit over the head with a piece of wood and a bicycle chain during an attack by a group of youths.
After the attack he told police he had been on his bike with two friends after leaving his home in Oscar Street when a group of males tried to rob them.
A black male, later identified by him as Burton, asked him if he wanted to fight before being handed a piece of wood, which he then hit Mr Allright with multiple times.
Two white males joined in the attack, hitting him with weapons while Mr Allright tried to defend himself with his arms raised, the court heard. The group ran off when someone came out of a nearby shop and told them to leave the victim alone.
At the time of the attack, Daniel’s sister said: “Daniel didn’t deserve this. He is the nicest boy you could come across. He is not aggressive.”
“I can’t comprehend hitting someone so hard. I couldn’t do to them what they have done to my brother,” she added.
The injury that caused death 16 years later
The prosecution case was that Mr Allright’s death in March 2022 was the direct result of the head injury he suffered in the 2006 attack.
Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC told jurors that Mr Allright suffered his first seizure in March 2007 and was prescribed medication, but his epilepsy worsened in the months before his death.
He died at his home on March 26, 2022, aged 31, having suffered a fatal epileptic seizure in the bathroom. A post-mortem examination found no evidence that he had drowned or suffered any natural disease, and post-traumatic epilepsy was found to be the cause of death.
How a 2006 assault became a 2026 murder case
Burton initially denied being involved in the attack, but later pleaded guilty to violent disorder and unlawful wounding in 2008 — charges that reflected how serious Mr Allright’s injuries were understood to be at the time.
During the murder trial, Burton denied wrongdoing and told jurors he had been pressurised into admitting the assault in 2008.
It is worth distinguishing the two stages of the case clearly. The 2008 proceedings dealt with the assault as a wounding; the 2026 trial concerned the charge of murder, brought only after medical evidence established that the 2006 head injury had caused Mr Allright’s death in 2022.
The guilty verdict means the jury was satisfied that the fatal seizure could be traced back to the beating in Friendly Street Park. It is a legal route that allows prosecutors to bring murder charges decades after an attack, when fresh evidence — such as a post-mortem finding — connects a death to a historic injury. Cases of this kind depend on the original investigation having preserved enough material for a fair trial: witness accounts, police records and medical evidence gathered years apart must together tell a coherent story. The Old Bailey has heard a series of major London murder trials in recent months, including a Westminster murder case that ended in a guilty plea ahead of sentencing.
Delayed justice is not unheard of in the capital: a suspect was charged with a 2023 Tottenham murder only after being extradited, showing how homicide investigations can run for years before reaching court.
Timeline of the case
- September 2006: Daniel Allright, 16, is hit over the head with a piece of wood and a bicycle chain in Friendly Street Park, Deptford.
- March 2007: He suffers his first seizure and is prescribed medication.
- 2008: Jordan Burton, having initially denied involvement, pleads guilty to violent disorder and unlawful wounding.
- March 26, 2022: Mr Allright dies aged 31 at his home after a fatal epileptic seizure in the bathroom.
- Post-mortem: Post-traumatic epilepsy is found to be the cause of death; there is no evidence of drowning or natural disease.
- September 29, 2026: A jury at the Old Bailey finds Burton, now 33, guilty of murder.
- September 30, 2026: Burton is due to be sentenced by Judge Anthony Leonard KC.
Burton, of Achilles Street, Lewisham, will return to the dock on Wednesday to learn his fate. Guilty verdicts are not always the final word in such cases — a murder conviction in another London case was later referred to the Court of Appeal — but for now the jury’s verdict closes a chapter that began with a park attack 20 years ago.
