Four men who beat a New Southgate man to death in the back of an ambulance have been jailed for life.

Eugen Breahna, 26, of Brownlow Road, was battered by a gang armed with a golf club, baseball bat and knives in Bounds Green Road, on January 18, 2005.

Gabriel Alecu, 30, of East Ham, Narcis Danila,18, of East Ham, Christian Sakyi, 19, of Beckton and an 18-year-old who cannot be named for legal reasons, were jailed for life at the Old Bailey on Friday.

The court heard Romanian-born Mr Breahna died in a night-time street brawl involving some 20 men, sparked by a turf war between eastern European gangs running cash machine scams.

Breahna's group were drawn into the fight after a rival gang made menacing phone calls to force a confrontation. When Breahna arrived, he was confronted by a gang wielding weapons.

Breahna ran towards an ambulance to seek help but the mob followed him into the vehicle.

Det Chief Insp Phil Adams, of the Met's specialist crime directorate, said: "This was an extremely violent incident which occurred outside a busy Tube station with up to 20 people running through the streets armed with weapons.

"There can be no doubt the general public in the area must have been terrified and very concerned for their own safety.

"The paramedic inside the ambulance coped admirably in retaining the presence of mind to attend as best he could to the victim's injuries and call for further assistance."