A schoolboy aspiring to be a doctor was stabbed to death trying to protect his best friend from a masked gang, a court heard today.

Ajmol Alom, 16, collapsed yards from his home in London’s East End after being attacked with knives and a machete-like blade.

He was hoping to study medicine at university—but died just days before receiving eight As and three Bs in his GCSE results from Poplar’s Langdon Park School last August.

His mother rushed from their home and watched helplessly as Ajmol lay dying in Spey Street, Poplar.

He had been playing football with friends at Brownfields Park when four men approached wearing hoodies and bandanas, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.

“The friends were making their way home and none had a care in the world,” said prosecutor Mark Dennis.

“All that was about to change by sudden and gratuitous violence which left one with a knife wound and another dying.

“They had done nothing to provoke such aggression.

“The four men appeared hooded and each tried to mask their face with a bandana.”

Ajmol intervened when his friend was attacked, but was stabbed himself.

Paramedics tried to save him—but he died hours later in hospital.

“The four attackers ran away as a team,” the prosecutor added. “At least three knives were seen, one a machete-like blade.”

One attacker had been punched in a park weeks before, jurors were told. He went to police, but later no longer wanted to help them.

Four men all deny murder, attempted murder and wounding with intent. Three from Poplar are Muhammod Malik, 22, of Smith Mews, Ali Choudhury, 20, of Ricardo Street, and Aminur Khan, 19, of Robin Hood Gardens. The fourth, Mashadur Rahman, 22, is from Victoria Street, Stratford.

The trial continues.