The mother of a young man stabbed to death in the street has said dealing with the Metropolitan Police was “harder than getting someone convicted in The Hague”.

Sven Badzak, 22, and a 16-year-old friend were attacked by a group of six young men as they walked in Willesden Lane, Kilburn, on February 6, 2021.

Sven, who had gone out on an errand for his mother, was repeatedly stabbed after falling to the ground, while his friend suffered multiple stab injuries but managed to run into a nearby supermarket for help.

Drug dealers Rashid Gedel, 22, from Ilford, and Shiroh Ambersley, 23, from Wembley were found guilty of Mr Badzak’s murder following a trial at the Old Bailey last month.

They were each acquitted of attempted murder of the 16-year-old but both convicted of wounding with intent.

The court heard Sven's killers appeared to be looking for young people to attack, and may have wrongly believed their victims were in a rival gang.

Asked on Times Radio what she thought of how the police dealt with the crime, Sven’s mother Jasna said: “It was horrendous for us, they were saying that it was gang-related violence, implying that Sven was a gangster.”

The grieving mum, who lives in Maida Vale, added that it became a “problem” for police to get CCTV and they were “very reluctant to do that”.

Jasna, who was previously a protected witness in two trials of war criminals at The Hague after fleeing her native Yugoslavia, said: “Putting criminals behind bars in The Hague was a piece of cake compared with dealing with the Metropolitan Police.”

Jasna, a former chair of the local Conservative association, said her son was “calm and collected” and said he “never ever had any altercations with anybody who would be involved in something like that”.

Ms Badzak added that she was threatened with arrest for “interfering with the investigation”.

She added: “I was demanding that they arrest the killers and even arresting any one of them would take at least seven to 10 days.”

Gedel and Ambersley are due to be sentenced at the Old Bailey today (August 3).

Additional reporting by PA.