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A curry house boss was stabbed to death in a quiet Canonbury street after refusing to get involved in a gang war, a court heard on Monday.

Father-of-two Abdus Samad, 25, was lured to Alwyne Road 19 years ago by a bogus takeaway call before being ambushed by masked men and killed with a meat cleaver.

As he tried to run for his life in May 1997, the victim, also known as Kamal, shouted to a passer-by: “He’s got a knife. He wants to kill me. Be careful,” the Old Bailey heard.

The street had been deserted but dozens of residents came out of their homes when they heard his screams for help. He suffered 18 stab wounds. A Whittington Hospital surgeon describing his injuries as “horrific – the like I have never seen before in my career”.

Foyjur Rahman, 44, who denies murder, is accused of being among the men who carried out the attack. He was extradited from the US in January.

Prosecutor Mark Ellison QC said Mr Samad had been asked by a group of Bengali businessmen in east London to be an intermediary in a dispute with “the Stoke Newington boys”, but he refused to get involved in the feud, despite being threatened with violence.

Mr Ellison said a telephone order was made to Curry In A Hurry in Highbury just after 10pm for a house in Alwyne Road, a property once home to the former Solicitor General Lord Falconer.

When Mr Samad arrived, however, he was ambushed, the court heard, with assailants chasing him to nearby Alwyne Villas before attacking him.

Mr Rahman left the country the day after the killing, a jury has been told.

The trial continues.