SHAKILUS TOWNSEND: Seven guilty of honey trap murder (From News Shopper)

SHAKILUS TOWNSEND: Seven guilty of honey trap murder

3:29pm Wednesday 8th July 2009 in

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SEVEN teenagers have been convicted of murdering 16-year-old Shakilus Townsend in a honey trap plot involving a young girl.

Danny McLean, aged 18, Tyrell Ellis, aged 19, and 18-year-old Don-Carlos Ellis, all from Thornton Heath, along with Andre Johnson-Haynes, aged 18, of Croydon, were found guilty of murder at the Old Bailey this afternoon.

Also convicted were 16-year-old Samantha Joseph, of Brockley Road, Brockley, who lured Shakilus to his death, along with 17-year-olds Michael Akinfenwa and Andre Thompson – from Croydon.

The judge lifted restrictions on naming the defendants aged under 18 following the guilty verdicts.

Samantha Joseph:

Shakilus, of Tanners Hill, Deptford, was set upon by members of the Shine My Nine (SMN) gang on July 3 last year.

They beat him with a baseball bat, kicked him and stabbed him several times after luring him to his death using Joseph, who was 15 at the time, as bait.

Shakilus had gone out with Joseph on a number of occasions. But she was also seeing McLean.

Joseph acted as a honey trap, luring Shakilus to Beulah Crescent in Thornton Heath to be ambushed and attacked by a jealous McLean and other gang members.

During the trial Joseph told the court she and Shakilus got on really well. She added that he was an “all right person” because of the way he treated her.

Jurors heard how he offered to buy her a puppy for her birthday and that she was thinking of ending her relationship with McLean.

But she also confessed her co-defendant became “very angry” when he found out about her and 'Shak'.

Joseph claimed she believed she loved McLean at the time and was trying to “sweeten him up” in order to calm him down.

Joseph was caught on CCTV on a bus with Shakilus on the day he was attacked:

When the prosecution asked her how McLean included her in his plans, she said: “I think it was something along the lines of 'if you still love me, you will set up Shak.’ "I just went along with it.”

Following the attack, Shakilus got up and staggered towards a block of flats - collapsing in the entrance.

Witnesses saw him struggling to breathe while shouting “I don't want to die”, but he was unconscious by the time paramedics arrived.

He was rushed to St George’s Hospital in Tooting but his heart stopped as the ambulance pulled into the grounds.

Doctors performed emergency surgery on him to get his heart going but found a deep cut through his liver and several arteries.

The stab wound led to massive blood loss and Shakilus’s heart stopped another three times before he died shortly after midnight on July 4.

The gang members involved in the attack on Shakilus. Top: Danny McLean, Andre Johnson Haynes. Middle: Tyrell Ellis, Don-Carlos Ellis. Bottom: Michael Akinfenwa, Andre Thompson:

The seven killers, who all pleaded not guilty, will remain in custody until they are sentenced at the Old Bailey in early September.

Detective Inspector Barney Ratcliffe, of the Met's homicide and serious crime command investigation team, said: "This is an absolutely tragic case, where a young boy has been viciously attacked simply for liking the wrong girl.

"Even though she knew her relationship with Shakilus was putting him in danger, Samantha Joseph carried on and when the point of no return arrived she knowingly and callously led him to his death.

"The level of deception, cunning and co-ordination used to lure Shakilus to his death, illustrates the determination of all those involved.

"After the attack Joseph and McLean calmly walked away, even stopping in a nearby shop to seek medical help for a head injury he had suffered during the incident.

Jospeh and McLean calmly walking away after the attack on Shakilus:

"These convictions are testimony to the quality of this investigation into what was a complex scenario. It should also serve as a warning to all those who associate with violent individuals, that even if you are not directly party to an attack, if you know and conspire with others, we can and will prosecute you."