Stabbed teenager Joel Adesina spent his final hours in a weaponised gang wearing face coverings and fleeing at least one man with a knife, the Old Bailey heard.

Omotola Onifade, who was working as a doorman at the Howl at the Moon pub on Hoxton Street told the jury on Thursday that the youths appeared “scary” on December 5 last year, the night of the Dagenham teenager’s death.

“I was thinking ‘I hope it’s not this pub they are coming to,’” he said. “Some had handkerchiefs and hoods over their faces and were walking in a suspicious way.”

He said that after murder suspect Lincoln Olaribigbe nearly hit the group with his Vauxhall Astra, the boys started to run.

“A car turned at a high speed,” Mr Ali said. “The young guys managed to escape untouched.

“The car went in a fast reverse and reversed back into the main road and chased after the boys.”

But CCTV footage shows the car did not follow the boys when they ran back down Stanway Street.

Taxi driver Motochir Ali told the jury he saw a man with a knife in a plastic bag get out of fellow murder suspect Georgie Phillips’ blue Mercedes near the group on Hackney Road.

But Stephen Kamlish QC said it was the boys who chased Phillips.

A 16-year-old present on the night, who cannot be named for legal reasons, gave evidence in court after he was arrested and forced to appear.

Mr Kamlish suggested that the boy had lied to the police in his original statement, in which he claimed not to have recognised the Mercedes – despite video footage of him pointing it out to his friends after one of them threw a brick at it.

“You were the one that set off the chase when you saw this car again,” he said. “You did recognise it – it was about 70 yards away.”

The youth also denied knowledge of anybody carrying weapons – despite CCTV showing one of the group waving a sock-covered knife in front him.

“You were trying to mislead the police about you being the aggressor looking for people to stab up,” Mr Kamlish QC said.

He also told the court that the youth had thrown away the phone he had on the night so police could not examine it.

Mr Kamlish QC also accused a 17-year-old witness, who also cannot be named for legal reasons, of lying about the group’s activity on December 5.

The youth, who admitted throwing the brick at the Mercedes, said they were heading for a party in Shoreditch Park.

“You are the first person who mentioned going to Shoreditch Park,” he said. “None of the other witnesses have mentioned that.”

The witness also admitted to carrying a knife, after CCTV footage showed him reaching into his pocket after the group’s near-miss with the Astra.

Georgie Phillips, 20, of Hood Walk, Romford, and Lincoln Olaribigbe, 23, of Regents Court, Hoxton, deny murder. The trial continues.