Two men have been cleared of killing a young woman who was hit by a ricochet bullet during a tit-for-tat shooting.

Mohanna Abdhou, 20, known as Montana, was shot in the back by a stray bullet which had bounced off a wall on an estate in north west London on May 26 last year.

Afterwards, two masked killers made off on bicycles, the Old Bailey heard.

Following a trial, Mohammed Tawfik, 19, from Kilburn, and Kylann Grannum, 21, of no fixed abode, were found  not guilty of murder.

Grannum’s girlfriend Kathleen Peddar, 21, of Brent, north west London, was cleared of assisting them.

Prosecutor Anthony Orchard QC had told jurors how Ms Abdhou, from Hayes, was not the target of the shooting on the South Kilburn Estate.

Mohanna Abdhou death
Mohanna Abdhou was not thought to be a specific target (Metropolitan Police/PA)

He said: “Mohanna was shot by two masked gunmen who approached, riding pedal cycles, the group she was with.

“At least three, probably more, shots were fired in the direction of her group.

“One bullet ricocheted off a wall and hit Mohanna in the back, severing her pelvic artery. She died at the scene.”

Mr Orchard told jurors the killing followed years of tit-for-tat violence between two rival gangs whose territories lie just half a mile apart.

The Mozart Estate is the home turf of the Harrow Boys, or HRB, who had a long-running dispute with a gang known as Killy or SK from the South Kilburn Estate.

The prosecutor said Mr Tawfik and Mr Grannum were linked with HRB.

The shooting took place while the victim was standing in the middle of the South Kilburn Estate, the heart of the rival gang’s territory.

One bullet was retrieved from her body and a second was found in a nearby flat, although the revolver used in the shooting was never recovered.

Giving evidence, Tawfik told jurors he and his co-accused were smoking a joint at his mother’s house at the time of the killing.

A 17-year-old boy was acquitted of murder mid-way through the trial on the directions of the judge.