'Honey-trap' girl, 16, guilty

LONDON - A schoolgirl who acted as a "honey trap" to lure a besotted teenage boy to his death at the hands of a street gang has been convicted of murder.

Samantha Joseph, 16, led Shakilus Townsend, also 16, to a cul-de-sac in south London where he was beaten by a gang of teenagers with baseball bats.

He was then stabbed six times by Danny McLean, Joseph's ex-boyfriend who she was trying to win back.

Yesterday after a six-week trial at the Old Bailey, Joseph, McLean, 18, and five others were found guilty of murder. They will all receive life sentences.

As the verdicts were announced Shakilus's mother, Nicola Dyer, 34, burst into tears.

Outside court she said her son was "no angel" but added: "This tragedy has absolutely devastated my family."

Shakilus was killed in July last year after becoming involved in a love triangle with Joseph and McLean.

McLean had split up with his younger girlfriend when he learned she had cheated on him with Shakilus, but later decided to exact revenge on his love rival.

During the trial she admitted agreeing to lead Shakilus to the ambush, but said she believed he would only be beaten up and not killed.

Dyer, giving evidence, said she had never met Joseph but Shakilus had shown her pictures of the girl on his cellphone.

"He said he was really in love with this girl, that she was to be his future wife and ... have his kids - he was really smitten with her.

"I can't understand how she could have callously ... set him up and lured him to his death."

The defendants were remanded to be sentenced on a date to be fixed.

- INDEPENDENT