Boy 'lured to death by honey trap'

Shakilus Townsend, 16, was kicked, beaten with a baseball bat and stabbed repeatedly by members of a masked gang, the Old Bailey heard.

Danny McLean, 18, Tyrell Ellis, 19, Andre Johnson-Haynes, 18, three youths and a girl all deny murder.

The "relentless and merciless" attack was allegedly orchestrated by the girl's boyfriend McLean after he learnt she was cheating on him with Shakilus.

The court was told as Shakilus lay dying, he called out for his mother and said: "I don't want to die."

Shakilus had been besotted with the girl, who cannot be named because of her age, and said he wanted to marry her. But she was still in love with McLean, who had dumped her, and "would have done anything to get him back", said Brian Altman QC, prosecuting.

"Being instrumental in setting him up for a vicious and lethal attack was one such thing," he said. "Despite her age, her role in this killing was central and pivotal."

On the afternoon of July 3 last year, she lured Shakilus to a cul-de-sac in Thornton Heath, south east London, so that he could be ambushed and attacked by the gang "with little or no possibility of escape", Mr Altman said.

As the pair arrived in the area, the attackers were waiting for him, and chased him as the girl kept in touch with McLean by mobile phone, he said. Shakilus died as a result of a wound to his chest, which had "raked" across his liver causing a massive loss of blood, the court heard.

McLean and Ellis, both from Thornton Heath, and Johnson-Haynes, from Croydon, deny murder. The girl, who is now 16, and three youths aged 17, have also pleaded not guilty to the charge. None of the alleged attackers was more than 18 at the time.