A FORMER “It girl” who graced the London social scene in the 1940s was murdered by a couple she befriended and allowed to share her four-bedroom West London home.

Bridget Skehan, 93, known as Bridie, was punched and stamped on by the couple who hoped to steal the deeds to her £300,000 house where they rented a room. They ransacked the property but failed to find either the deeds or £50,000 in cash the wealthy divorcée kept in a drawer.

Nimpha Ong, 49, and Ahmed al-Haddad, 24, attacked the devout churchgoer after she invited them for a Christmas drink, punching and stamping on the retired interior designer, before beating her with walking sticks. They dumped her body in a box and left it in an outhouse before going to a friend’s home where they were pictured smiling for the camera.

The couple are now facing life in jail after being found guilty at Inner London Crown Court of the murder.

Mrs Skehan had been a glamorous addition to the London social scene in the 1940s and 50s, often arriving for parties in long, colourful American cars that were her passion. Twice divorced, Mrs Skehan was born in 1909 and was brought up in Templemoor, Co Tipperary, before leaving for the bright lights of London.

In her thirties she became known as something of an “It girl” on the social scene. At the time of her death she had swapped London parties with helping out at her church and the local community.

Neither Ong nor al-Haddad, a former terrorist suspect, showed any emotion as the jury convicted them of the murder in December 2002. The pair, who accused each other, will be be sentenced today when the judge will impose mandatory life terms.

Seventeen years ago, after the death of an aunt, Mrs Skehan inherited the four-bedroom mansion-block apartment in Bayswater.

The killers met when Ong, an estate agent already married with a young son, was dating al-Haddad’s brother in 2000. During their affair Ong took al-Haddad to her home country, the Philippines. But the pair were arrested after al-Haddad was found to be travelling on a terrorist’s passport.

He spent a few weeks in jail before his release but Ong was detained for 12 months. Once back together they returned to England, but Ong’s husband, a property developer, had applied for a divorce and thrown her out of the family home.

She turned to Mrs Skehan whom she had known for seven years after the pensioner had previously employed her to try to sell the flat. Mrs Skehan offered her and al-Haddad lodgings at the flats in August 2002. But a few months later she asked them to leave when they failed to pay their rent. Furious at her eviction Ong began plotting the murder, planning to sell the house and flee with cash.

On December 29, 2002, Ong put on her three-inch high heels and a pair of black gloves before knocking on Mrs Skehan’s door. The pensioner invited her in, unaware that al-Haddad was standing behind the door. Once inside the flat Ong punched the old lady to the floor and began stamping on her head, neck and body with the three-inch heels.

She then picked up Mrs Skehan’s walking sticks and beat her with them, smashing her dentures and causing appalling internal injuries. The pair then visited Ong’s friend where the pictures were taken.

In all ten pictures were shown to the jury in which Ong and al-Haddad can be seen in high spirits. She is seen still wearing the black high heels she had just used to stamp Mrs Skehan to death.

On their return to the flat they made a number of attempts to squeeze Mrs Skehan’s lifeless body into a suitcase, but failed. They then found a large cardboard box in the outhouse which they used to put her body in before packing it with foam and taping it shut. Ong planned to flee to a friend’s home in Surrey where she had been housesitting and dump the corpse on the way.

But as the couple hauled the box from the basement flat on to the street blood began pouring out of the bottom. Forced to abandon the plan, the killers dragged the box back inside and dumped it in the outhouse.

After using a bucket and mop to clean away the puddles of blood they began searching the home for the deeds. But they were nowhere to be found so after dusting down the house to remove their finger prints they called another taxi and left for Egham, where they went for a drink and a game of pool at the local pub.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Sarah Brown says 'no thanks' to veal at G8 - twice
• Stockton-on-Tees is obesity capital of Britain
• Stores blame poor sales on Murray factor