Three men and two women were jailed today (December 8) for a total of 100 years for their part in a “honeytrap killing” in Bushey.
Vishal Gohel, 44, had been expecting to have sex with three women, but was gagged and beaten when their male accomplices arrived at his flat on Bushey High Street to rob him.
The meeting was organised by Yarley Georgia Bruce-Annan, an apprentice at Coutts bank, who referred to the victim as her ‘Sugar Daddy’ and the number ’67’ because that was the amount of money she thought he had.
But when he either could not or would not transfer cash, he was fatally beaten and throttled, St Albans Crown Court heard.
Prosecutor Charlotte Newell KC said that on the morning of Sunday, January 23, last year, a neighbour saw Mr Gohel’s front door was ajar and the kitchen light was on.
When the neighbour returned to the second floor of the flats, he noticed the door was still open and decided to check.
He knocked on the door and went in to find Mr Gohel lifeless on the floor of the bedroom.
Gaffer tape was round the lower part of his face. A post-mortem examination found he had suffered a significant blow or blows to the head.
Ms Newell said: “Both sides of his face were injured. There was internal bruising to his scalp, eyes and jaw. There was brain damage and his voice box had been fractured, consistent with squeezing of the neck.
“He was ambushed in a group attack in his own home.”
The flat had been tidied in an effort to clean the scene. The father-of-two’s iPhone and iWatch had been taken.
Ms Newell said he was the victim of a “honeytrap” where the women had gained access to the flat on the promise of sexual liaisons that never happened. Instead, they were there to allow their male accomplices in to steal property.
At the end of a trial in July this year, bus driver Tevin Leslie, 23, of Hurst Street, Brixton, London, was convicted of murder. He had admitted conspiracy to rob. He was jailed for life with a minimum term of 26 years before he can apply for parole.
Sakeen Gordon, 22, of Uxbridge Road, Ealing, was convicted of murder by a 10 to one majority and conspiracy to rob. He was jailed for life with a minimum term of 25 years.
Brandon Browne, 23, of Laburnham Road, Rochester, Kent, was found not guilty of murder, but convicted of manslaughter and conspiracy to rob and was sentenced to 15 years.
Yarley Georgia Bruce-Annan, 22, of Harts Lane, Barking, was convicted of murder and had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to rob. She was jailed for life with a minimum term of 26 years.
Faith Hoppie, 22, of Blake Avenue, Barking, was found not guilty of murder, but convicted of manslaughter and conspiracy to rob. She was sentenced to eight years.
A third woman defendant had been cleared of all charges.
The jury heard the victim had been in contact with Bruce-Annan on Saturday, January 22, last year on Craig’s List – an online market website where goods and services are offered.
The female defendants had left Barking in a cab, that cost £42.75, and arrived in Bushey at 1am.
The men arrived at the scene in Tevin Leslie’s Audi at 2.25am. Browne had been picked up in Bromley. Leslie then drove onto Ealing to pick up Gordon, who is his cousin.
Ms Newell said: “It was the culmination of a plan that had been brewing throughout the day.”
Mr Gohel had been recorded on CCTV at a convenience store near his home at 10.25pm where he bought alcohol, soft drinks, cigarettes, and condoms. He had borrowed £100 in cash from his mother, who lived nearby, and also withdrew £100 from a cash machine.
The prosecutor said he had been seen on CCTV wearing the iWatch. This was missing when his body was found. She said the watch, the £200 cash and his iPhone were stolen.
The prosecutor said: “No attempts had been made to contact the emergency services, but there had been efforts had been made to clean the flat. He was dead or dying when they left the flat. There was no attempt to provide assistance to him.”
In a victim impact statement, which she read to the court, the victim’s aunt Bonny Rigby Williams described her nephew as “ charming, intelligent, handsome and driven”.
She said: “He had a wicked sense of humour and would bring us to side-aching laughter with his impressions and story-telling.”
Addressing the defendants, she said: “It was painful to see the total lack of remorse shown by any one of you.
“You were the last things he saw as he begged for his life.
“We are appalled by casual way the crime was committed.”
Jailing them, Judge Richard Foster said: “The facts of this case are as tragic as they are sordid. What began as a sordid little enterprise ended up as a tragedy.”
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