EXCLUSIVE EXCLUSIVE: Terrified girlfriend of kidnapped DJ who was tortured to death by a gang over two days while she was locked in a toilet is in hiding in Istanbul after refusing to give evidence in court against his killers

The girlfriend of Turkish radio DJ Koray Alpergin is in hiding in Istanbul after she refused to return to the UK to give evidence in the trial of his killers.

Gözde Dalbudak, 34, was knocked unconscious and held in a toilet for two days after she and Alpergin, 43, were abducted outside his London home. 

The family of her DJ lover are said to be dismayed that Ms Dalbudak flew home to Turkey two days before his funeral, and has not been back to the UK since. 

Jurors at the Old Bailey were told that she was refusing to testify at the trial of the men accused of the torture and killing of Mr Alpergin and her imprisonment.

MailOnline has been told that she did not want to give evidence because she was ‘traumatised’ by her ordeal and could not face returning to London. 

Ms Dalbudak (pictured) was locked in a toilet for two days while Mr Alpergin was tortured to death

The body of DJ Koray Alpergin, 43, was discovered near the Oakwood Hill Industrial Estate in Loughton, Essex, on October 15 last year 

Gözde Dalbudak, 34, was introduced to Koray Alpergin by a mutual friend. She has since gone into hiding 

A source close to the case said: ‘She gave a statement to police after it happened, but she was desperate to get home to her family and loved ones. ‘She knew that nothing she could say would ever bring back Koray. 

‘She did not want to talk about it and just wants to put it all behind her.’ 

Ms Dalbudak and members of her family in Turkey took down their social media after the brutal kidnapping and killing of Mr Alpergin who had been photographed with celebrities including P.Diddy, Turkish celebrity chef Salt Bae and British rapper Stefflon Don. 

She set up a new Instagram account in January this year, but quickly shut it down after a reporter tried to make contact with her in September. 

Ms Dalbudak started a relationship with Mr Alpergin, the owner of Turkish radio station Bizim FM in London, after meeting him when he was on holiday in Turkey in June last year. 

MailOnline can reveal that the couple were allegedly introduced by a Turkish social media influencer and actress turned beauty salon boss called Nilay Toprak. 

The influencer who lives in Istanbul is a friend of Ms Dalbudak and was also a friend of Mr Alpergin for eight years before his murder, according to his family. 

But following his death, Ms Toprak who has more than one million followers on Instagram removed all mention of Mr Alpergin and pictures of him from her social media. 

DJ Koray Alpergin (pictured), 43, was kidnapped from outside his flat in Enfield, tortured and killed

Koray Alpergin, 43, was the owner of Turkish radio station Bizim FM in London. Picture: Koray Alpergin with Turkish celebrity chef Salt Bae

Mr Alpergin’s father Tuncay who used to run a restaurant in Stoke Newington, east London, said that Ms Toprak had not been in touch with his family. 

Speaking last October about his son’s death, he told Turkish newspaper Sabah: ‘We do not know what to think. There is no explanation for the incident yet. 

‘N.T. (Nilay Toprak) who introduced our son to that girl, has been our son’s friend for eight years. 

‘She came to our house and ate our dinner. After the incident, she did not even express her condolences, did not call and ask, and removed all the photos with our son from her social media accounts. 

‘According to what we heard from a friend of Koray, “This incident is beyond all of us.” I want to know why my son was killed.’ 

Pictures of Ms Toprak visiting London and socialising with Mr Alpergin remain on his Instagram account. 

Ms Toprak’s agent told MailOnline that the murder of father-of-two Mr Alpergin was not a matter for her to comment on. 

Prosecutor Crispin Aylett KC alleged during the trial that the DJ was probably a victim of an organised crime group, which was almost certainly linked to drugs. 

He said: ‘The prosecution allege that Koray Alpergin was kidnapped and tortured either so that he might be punished for something that he had done or else forced to give up something that he knew – perhaps the whereabouts of either drugs or money – and which his kidnappers also wanted to know.’ 

Mr Aylett explained how Ms Dalbudak would not be giving evidence, telling jurors: ‘This had been her first, and no doubt last, visit to the UK. 

The DJ was allegedly killed in the Stadium Lounge (pictured) in October last year 

Mr Alpergin was the owner of Turkish radio station Bizim FM and had connections with celebrities such as rapper P Diddy

Pictures of Ms Toprak visiting London and socialising with Mr Alpergin remain on his Instagram account

‘No doubt, you are expecting to see Gozde Dalbudak in the witness box. Ms Dalbudak went back to Turkey on 21 October 2022. 

‘Although she has remained in contact with police officers in London, she has not come back to the UK. 

‘Nor is she willing to do so for the purposes of this trial, nor is she prepared to give evidence over a live link from Turkey. For perfectly understandable reasons, you may think, she wants to put the whole thing behind her.’ 

Mr Alpergin who was from north Cyprus is said to have returned to the UK from Turkey in September last year, but stayed in touch with Ms Dalbudak. 

Jurors were told how she flew over to London visit him on October 10 to stay for a week, and the couple went to an expensive Italian restaurant in Mayfair on the night of October 13. 

During the meal, she telephoned her mother who is a retired teacher in Istanbul named only as E.D in Turkish media, and told her that everything was fine. 

The couple had just returned to Mr Alpergin’s flat in Enfield, north London, in his Audi car after their meal when they were confronted by a gang of men including one armed with a knife. 

They were forced into a white van and driven to a wine bar and restaurant known as the Stadium Lounge or ‘the Ezgi Turku Bar’, near Tottenham Hotspur’s ground in north London. 

Mr Alpergin was beaten, throttled, scalded with boiling water, stabbed, maimed and wounded in the genitals while Ms Dalbudak was locked in a ‘filthy’ toilet after earlier being knocked unconscious. 

She was held for 48 hours before being taken out into the street and released ten minutes up the road. 

Ms Dalbudak was left with bruising to her eyes, a broken bleeding nose and was wearing an oversized jacket and beanie given to her by her captors. 

Jurors were told she made her way to a restaurant where she and Mr Alpergin had been a few days earlier, but the owner did not initially recognise her and thought she was a homeless beggar. 

A police van and cordon pictured in Loughton, Essex, where Mr Alpergin’s body was found 

A police car parked behind a cordon close to the scene where Mr Alpergin’s body was found

A dog walker found the DJ’s naked body, with 94 injuries including 14 broken ribs, dumped in woodland on October 15 near an industrial estate in Loughton, Essex.

Linear bruises to his chest suggested he may have been beaten with a baseball bat and one blow to his head had caused him brain damage. 

In interviews with police, Ms Dalbudak said she had met Mr Alpergin though a female friend in Turkey in June 2022. 

She said they flirted for a while and after a couple of months she planned to come to London for about five days so they could ‘get to know each other better’. 

Mr Alpergin took her sightseeing and to ‘the best restaurants’ after she arrived at Heathrow on October 10, she said. She added that she did not know the DJ that well, but he had shown her affection and she wanted to spend more time with him. 

On the night of the kidnap, she was wearing black leather trousers with boots, a cream top and cream trench coat. 

Ms Dalbudak said a man suddenly appeared at the side of the car with a metal bread knife and told her to shut up. 

She was sobbing and very scared as she saw three or four men holding Mr Alpergin. His last words to her were: ‘Be quiet my love.’ 

Ms Daldubak told police she thought she was going to die as she was knocked out by being punched twice in the face. 

Her next memory was being inside a dark place and hearing Mr Alpergin and someone hitting or beating him. She could hear him shouting in English. 

She tried to explain she was a tourist on holiday and was crying a lot, she said. 

Her hands and feet were tied and she was blindfolded and taken to a toilet where she was locked up. 

The lavatory only had a tiny bit of light and smelled like fish or dead animals, she said. Her trench coat, an iPhone, a gold bracelet and a necklace with a heart shaped diamond pendant bought for her by a previous partner were taken, she said. 

She tried to tell them ‘ticket, Istanbul airport’ and said, in her limited English, she would go to Istanbul and not go to the police. 

Ms Dalbudak said she was in a state of fear and panic and wanted to get out as soon as possible. 

She later turned up at Kentish Town Police station and was placed into special protection as the DJ had been found dead, the court heard. 

The trial heard how Mr Alpergin told a friend when he returned to London from Turkey that he had ‘said the wrong thing to the wrong people’ who wanted to question him. 

Turkish DJ Koray Alpergin, 43, pictured smoking a cigar which was posted on his Instagram page

Turkish DJ Koray Alpergin, 34, on a trip to Rome which was posted on his Instagram. There are still pictures of him and girlfriend on the page

The friend said that he had seemed anxious and on edge rather than his usual ‘happy-go-lucky’ self. 

He was also said to have been heavily in debt with claims against him, including £32,405 for his Audi, which allegedly had a tracker fitted to it by his attackers. 

A jury deliberated for nearly 48 hours to find Tejean Kennedy, 33, and Ali Kavak, 26, guilty of the kidnap and false imprisonment of Mr Alpergin and Ms Dalbudak and his manslaughter. 

Samuel Owusu-Opoku, 35, was found guilty of two counts of kidnap. 

Steffan Gordon, 34, had admitted kidnap and was found guilty of two counts of false imprisonment. Kavak was also convicted of perverting the course of justice by helping to dispose of Mr Alpergin’s body and destroying two vehicles by fire. Owusu-Opoku admitted the charge.

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