A young City lawyer was stabbed to death yards from his home by two robbers who targeted him as "no more than a means to an end", the Old Bailey was told today.

Tom ap Rhys Pryce, a Cambridge graduate who was due this year to marry his fiancée was attacked near Kensal Green Underground station in north-west London. He died after being stabbed in twice in the chest, the court was told.

Donnel Carty, 19, of Kensal Green, and Delano Brown, 18, of Sudbury Hill, also in northwest London, deny murder.

Speaking for the prosecution, Richard Horwell, QC, said that Mr ap Rhys Pryce, 31, was a "proud man" who may have put up a struggle and possibly refused to meet the demands of the muggers.

"The motive was greed," he told the court. "He was being targeted as the victim of a robbery. He had just left the Underground system and he appeared rightly as if he was on his way home from work and he was likely to have something worth stealing."

When Mr ap Rhys Pryce was attacked in the street at 11.30pm, it was "two against one", the court heard.

"They were armed and, of course, he was not," Mr Horwell said. "It did not matter to them that this man had worked hard for his position in life, that he had a promising career in the legal system ahead of him. It did not matter that he was to marry in September.

"All that was best in life was ahead of him but to them he was no more than a means to an end and they treated him accordingly.

Mr Horwell said at least one knife was used in the attack and Mr ap Rhys Pryce was stabbed in the hip and twice in the chest, with the two chest wounds killing him.

"What value did the robbers place on his life? Their reward was Mr ap Rhys Pryce’s Oyster card, his bank cards, driving licence and mobile phone."

The robbers had run off, leaving their victim to collapse and die in the street. Two witnesses who saw the two men attacking the lawyer described the robbers as black and wearing the hoods of their jackets over their heads, the court was told.

Mr Horwell said that Mr Carty and Mr Brown had attacked another man, Kurshid Ali, in the station 20 minutes earlier. He alleged that the defendants had later used the mobile phones of both victims to telephone their girlfriends.

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