A schoolboy fell to his death after attempting to scale down the outside of a tower block to escape from a gang of youths.

Ahmed Benyarmak, 16, whose family found out yesterday that he had gained nine GCSEs, had climbed down six floors of the East London tower block before he lost his footing and fell more than 21m (70ft).

Neighbours said that the teenager had become separated from his friends while trying to escape from a five-strong group of knife-wielding youths on bicycles during the incident on Wednesday afternoon.

One claimed that the chasing gang had deliberately banged on Ahmed’s fingers to make him lose his grip.

Ahmed’s headteacher at the Hackney Free and Parochial Secondary School paid tribute to the academic achievements of the Moroccan teenager. Richard Brown said yesterday: “We expected today to be about GCSE results and what you then find is one of the youngsters, who have worked very hard for their GCSEs, has been the victim of this tragedy, so people are very shocked and upset.

“Ahmed’s only been here a year. The great achievement is he achieved nine GCSEs. I’ve spoken to his family this morning, and they are most proud.”

He acknowledged that Ahmed’s death may have been gang-related, before adding: “His tutor said to me he never would have expected Ahmed to be involved in this sort of incident.”

Ahmed lived with his mother, Abdain Naima, and two brothers, aged 16 and 1, and a sister, 9, at a flat in Hackney. His examination results, including three Cs, gave him a place at a college in Tower Hamlets, where he was going to train to become a mechanic.

His aunt, Fatima Benyarmak, 36, said that he had been excited about getting his results and going to college. She added: “He was a loving and caring child and he got along with everybody.

“It didn’t matter who you were, he would talk to anyone. He was a very understanding and polite person.”

Scotland Yard said that Ahmed had been with friends on the 13th floor of the tower block at about 3.30pm on Wednesday when they became concerned about another group of youths who were cycling towards the block.

Residents said that Ahmed and his friends first ran into the block after seeing the group. One, who asked not to be named, said that this group had knives. Police said that one avenue of inquiry was whether shouts had been exchanged between the group on the balcony and the youths on the ground.

Detective Chief Inspector Ian Stevenson said that Ahmed had become separated from his friends and had climbed on to the outside of the block before scaling down. Police said that when he reached the seventh floor he apparently lost his footing and fell. But one resident of the tower block, who asked not to be named, said that as the teenager climbed down the block, members of the gang had “banged his hands to make him fall, to make sure he lost his grip”.

Monica Jones, 24, who lives on the third floor of the block, said that she saw the shadow of Ahmed’s body falling past her bathroom window.

“I heard the crash and looked out and saw the body lying there,” she said. “He was facing towards the sky but his eyes were closed. There was another boy standing over him saying, ‘Oh my God, he’s dead. He’s dead’.”

Ahmed was pronounced dead just after 4pm. A postmortem examination yesterday at Poplar mortuary gave the cause of death as a ruptured aorta.

One of Ahmed’s friends said that the teenager was scared of heights. Josh Ley added: “He was a good boy and he took school seriously. He wasn’t the kind of person who had any trouble with anyone.”

Floral tributes and cards were left by wellwishers close to the small area of scrubland where Ahmed fell. One tribute from a cousin named Hamieda said: “To my dearest cousin Ahmed, you will always be in my thoughts. Love you loads, with sympathy.”

Mr Stevenson said: “This is a tragic and unnecessary death. The victim was with a group of friends on the thirteenth floor of a tower block when they became concerned about another group of youths cycling towards the tower block.

“He climbed on to the outside of the tower block via an open balcony and then climbed down several floors trying to escape. He reached the seventh floor when he could no longer carry on. After this point he fell to his death.

“The other group are described as black male youths. Some were wearing hooded tops, others were wearing bandanas and were riding pedal cycles.”

No arrests have been made.

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