A gang of five youths who knifed a defenceless 17-year-old boy to death 'like vultures' in a revenge attack between rival teenagers have been convicted of murder.

They now face life behind bars after Kyle Yule was stabbed, punched and kicked as he lay on the front doorstep of his best friend's home in Gillingham.

The attack on the evening of October 6 last year was triggered by a stolen bike and followed several violent clashes between two gangs of teenage boys known as C4 and G10 in the Medway towns.

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The cycle theft was said to be the 'final insult' for Victor Maibvisira.

A court was told the 19-year-old 'gathered his troops' and, having 'tooled up', attacked Kyle as 'payback' for a split lip he had suffered in an earlier confrontation with one of the teen's friends.

A jury at Maidstone Crown Court heard from witnesses who described hearing Kyle screaming for help and for his mum as he was viciously attacked with a machete.

He was also heard shouting out to Maibvisira, referring to him by his tag name of Vee, that he had had 'enough' and to stop his onslaught.

The hooded and masked teenagers, who acted together in total silence, then fled on foot or bikes, leaving a stricken Kyle telling those trying to save his life that he knew he was dying.

He had been pounced upon by his killers, one aged just 15 at the time, as he sat in a Renault Clio in East Street at about 8pm. They smashed the windscreen and a side window and slashed a tyre, forcing Kyle to flee.

The gang, described by onlookers as acting as if they were 'possessed', gave chase and within seconds had punched him to the ground and knifed him five times.

Kyle, who lived in nearby Hamilton Road, suffered a fatal wound to a major artery in his right armpit and died on the operating table at Medway Maritime Hospital in the early hours of October 7.

Just 24 hours before the murder, police had spoken to the teen and his best friend, 18-year-old Lewis Dilallo, about their problems with Maibvisira.

There had been a series of conflicts in just eight weeks in which Maibvisira brandished a 'Ninja-type' sword at Kyle and warned Lewis, to 'get his coffin ready'.

The court heard that officers suggested they left the area to let the situation calm down and even warned the boys: "This isn't f***ing funny, one of you will be dead soon'.

But the boys smirked and Kyle replied: "Don't worry, I can run fast."

Maibvisira, from St John's Road, Gillingham, Ephrain Akinwunmi-Streets, 17, from Sittingbourne, Tyler Ralph, also 17 and from Stevenage in Hertfordshire, Shezakia Daley, 17 and from Gillingham, and 16-year-old Jordan Dania, from Croydon, south London, were found guilty of murder and violent disorder.

Akinwunmi-Streets, known as Velz, was also convicted of an affray committed six days before Kyle died.

Maibvisira, a pharmaceutical science college student, and Daley, known by tag name of S, had admitted making threats with a machete in relation to the same incident.

During that altercation the three teenagers threatened and attempted to attack two men outside a pub in Gillingham Road, Gillingham using knives (pictured) and a belt.

They confronted a man outside the Fleur de Lis pub in Gillingham and CCTV showed a masked Maibvisira armed with the knife and making a slitting motion across his throat.

An order preventing the identification of the juvenile defendants was lifted today by Judge Adele Williams at the request of the media and on conviction, although images of them cannot be published.

They will be sentenced next Thursday.

During the trial, Judge Williams was told that threats had been made by defendants to each other as well as prison officers. One also threatened to escape and so security was heightened in the packed courtroom.

Kyle's mum, Nikki Yule, attended throughout the eight-week-long proceedings. Sobbing could be heard in the public gallery as the verdicts were announced by the jury after almost 16 hours deliberating.

At the start of the trial, prosecutor Steven Perian QC said the defendants belonged to a group of boys associated with Chatham, while Kyle and his friends called themselves G10 in reference to being associated with neighbouring Gillingham.

He said that although G10 was their Messenger chatgroup name, in the weeks before the fatal attack there had been a number of 'open and violent' conflicts between the youths.

It was this background, he added, and the 'final insult' of a bike being stolen, that provided the motive for the knifing of Kyle.

"On the evening of October 6 last year, these defendants, some or all of them armed with knives, or those not armed with a knife knowing that others had them, deliberately set out intending to kill or at the very least cause serious bodily harm to a member or members of the G10 group that they saw that evening," he told the packed courtroom.

The defendants first went to an address in Corporation Road where they assaulted a boy over Maibvisira's stolen bike, before heading to East Street.

It was here that they spotted the Renault car with Kyle sitting in it. They attacked it, intending to force the teen out.

"One eye witness who was watching this attack was to later tell the police the group was smashing the car as if they were possessed," said the prosecutor.

Kyle fled the car and ran to his friend's home. Mr Perian continued: "The defendants, as a group, chased Kyle, he was knocked to the ground and attacked in the small front garden.

"Another eye witness who saw this attack later told the police the group that pursued Kyle and attacked him at the front door were on him like vultures, kicking and punching him.

"Another witness said all the males had their hoods up. They were stamping on Kyle. He was shouting out something like 'That's enough, that's enough Vee, Vee stop' and 'Help, help, that's enough Vee, leave Vee'."

Mr Perian also told the jury that although it was not possible to identify who delivered the fatal blow or who actually knifed him, the defendants were accused of killing Kyle in a joint attack.

"We say one or more of these defendants stabbed Kyle with a knife that they had been carrying that day.

"These defendants therefore participated in the attack of Kyle by either stabbing him or knowing that others in the attack had a knife and would use it in the attack, intending to kill him or at the very least intending to cause him grievous bodily harm.

"This was a group attack by these defendants on a defenceless young man who died from a stab wound delivered by one of them."

Dania, known as Grinner, was the first to be arrested. He told police Kyle was attacked in revenge for an assault on Maibvisira.

Trouble had started between the two groups on August 10 last year when 20 to 30 youths clashed in the street outside Gillingham train station.

Maibvisira was said to have brandished a Samurai sword at Kyle and warned someone would be 'deaded'.

He later threatened Lewis in a Snapchat conversation: "Get your coffin ready. Game on."

On Tuesday, September 19 Kyle and a friend were in Gillingham High Street when they were spotted by Maibvisira and others. They gave chase causing Kyle and his friend to take refuge in a nearby pub.

During another incident in Gillingham High Street on September 29 when Maibvisira, Akinwunmi-Streets and Dania chased the Renault Clio in which Kyle and Lewis were passengers, one was heard to say: "Ok bruv, wait until next time. I'll get my shank (knife) out and do him."

On Thursday, October 5, the day before the fatal attack, Maibvisira, Ephrain Akinwunmi-Streets, Daley and Ralph saw Kyle and his friend walking in King Street, Gillingham. They started to chase the pair before they were able to take shelter in a nearby shop and the police were called.

Only Maibvisira and Daley gave evidence. Both blamed each other for stabbing Kyle.

The jury also saw footage from an iPhone belonging to Ralph in which he could be seen masked and brandishing a variety of knives.

In one clip as he wields a machete in the background, a young woman tells the camera 'F*** with me, f*** with him'.

Just six months before Kyle died, Ralph slashed a man to his head in a knife attack in broad daylight at a McDonald's in Penge, south east London.

He also pushed an elderly woman to the ground inside the fast food restaurant and was subsequently sentenced to a youth rehabilitation order for assault causing actual bodily harm, affray, battery and possession of a blade.

Three years earlier, at the age of 13, Ralph was also convicted of possession of a bladed article and given a four-month referral order.

Senior investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector Ivan Beasley said: "Throughout the trial and although agreeing they were present, each defendant denied being involved in the attack which took Kyle’s life. However, the jury rightly saw through these lies.

"This is a tragic case because not only did Kyle lose his life but his friends and family have also been significantly affected. Those responsible for Kyle’s death chose to behave in an appalling manner with no regard for his life.

"These were two separate groups of former friends who fell out over something as small as a push bike and the defendants’ response was to attack a young man with knives.

"The defendants are not representative of the majority of young people in Medway."

Video footage shows Tyler Ralph flaunting his collection of knives

Speaking after the verdicts, Kyle's mum Nikki said she hoped a message would go out to young people not to carry knives.

In a statement read out on her behalf by Detective Chief Inspector Ivan Beasley, she said: "I hope these verdicts today will help send out a very strong message to all young people that knife crime cannot and will not be tolerated in any way, shape or form.

"No one should feel the need to carry knives. People's lives can be lost so quickly and needlessly, just look at what happened to my Kyle.

"Quite simply, knife crime destroys lives."

Ms Yule also described the devastation she and her other children had endured with the death of her 'beautiful, kind-hearted, funny' boy and said they were broken-hearted.

"He was my best friend. He was extremely popular, brightening up people's day, often the centre of attention and making everyone laugh.

"He was a fantastic big brother, grandson and son. He was very much loved and is so dearly missed.

"Aside from losing Kyle attending this trial is the hardest thing I've ever had to experience. I've had to listen to the awful detail of what they all did to my boy."

Ms Yule also thanked the many witnesses, many of them teenagers, for their 'remarkable courage' in giving evidence.

"Those responsible for Kyle's death chose to behave in an appalling manner with no regard for his life" - Det Chf Insp Beasley

"These young witnesses saw my son being murdered and now have that shocking memory that will live with them forever."

She also paid tribute to family and friends who have supported her since Kyle's murder and throughout the trial, and police for their handling of the investigation.

In her decision to lift reporting restrictions, Judge Williams said the interest of 'open justice and open reporting' outweighed the welfare of the defendants.

"Such is the public interest here and concern about those who commit knife crime that there is a legitimate public interest in removing the reporting restrictions," she added.

Senior investigating officer Det Chf Insp Beasley said he was please the jury saw through the lies of those convicted.

"This is a tragic case because not only did Kyle lose his life but his friends and family have also been significantly affected," he said.

"Those responsible for Kyle’s death chose to behave in an appalling manner with no regard for his life.

"These were two separate groups of former friends who fell out over something as small as a push bike and the defendants’ response was to attack a young man with knives.

"The defendants are not representative of the majority of young people in Medway."

All five will be sentenced on Thursday 14 June.