A personal trainer who stopped a gang rape was told he was “dead meat” in a series of threatening messages before he was shot, an inquest has heard.

Abraham Badru was just 14 when he was handed a bravery award for rescuing a woman from a gang of rapists.

He later gave evidence in court against the suspects, whom he had known while growing up in east London.

But he spent the rest of his life in fear of retribution – even changing his name to hide from those he helped to convict.

The 26-year-old was shot dead outside his home in Hackney, London, on Sunday 25 March 2018, but his murder remains unsolved.

Ronke Ali Badru said she had begged police not to make her young son give evidence against the rapists, but said she was told she would be charged with perverting the course of justice if she intervened.

The threatening messages began days after the rape suspects were arrested, Mrs Badru told St Pancras Coroner’s Court on Monday.

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She said: “Abraham was receiving messages saying ‘You’re dead meat’, ‘You’re a snitch’.

“He was so scared, he stopped going out.”

His car was also vandalised years later, she said, which further worried her son.

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He moved to Bristol to study for his A-levels out of fear for his life, and changed his name to Prince when he returned to London in 2016 after completing a master’s degree.

The night he died he was on the phone to a woman when he was fatally shot as he unloaded the boot of his car, just after 11pm.

Detective Sergeant Matthew Bennet told the inquest: “She (the woman on the phone) described hearing a number of loud bangs, then hearing the sound of screeching tyres.

“She was completely unaware of what had taken place.”

Mrs Badru wiped tears from her eyes as coroner Mary Hassell read witness statements that confirmed her son was pronounced dead at the scene, with gunshot wounds to the chest and thigh.

All the gang rape suspects had alibis for the night of his murder, and all other lines of investigation have drawn a blank.

Mr Bennett said: “We still haven’t, to this day, identified any links to the murder or any motive.

“We couldn’t find anyone who had a particular grudge or vendetta against him.

“It has just been a wall of silence in relation to the murder investigation.”

The inquest continues.

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