A schoolgirl who acted as a honeytrap to lure a besotted schoolboy to his death at the hands of a street gang is facing life in prison after being convicted of his murder.

Samantha Joseph, who was 15 at the time, and a group of six teenagers, including her boyfriend, ambushed and stabbed to death Shakilus Townsend, 16, in a suburban cul-de-sac.

After a ten-week trial at the Old Bailey, the victim’s mother has called on parents and the wider community to step up their efforts to eradicate knife and gun crime.

Shakilus was murdered because he was caught in a love triangle involving Joseph and a gang member. Joseph, who can be named publicly for the first time, led Shakilus to Danny McLean, 18, and the other gang members, who beat him with a baseball bat before stabbing him six times.

McLean, a member of the SMN (Shine My Nine) gang in Croydon, South London, was unaware that Joseph had been seeing Shakilus in secret for nearly a month. When he discovered her duplicity, McLean “dumped” her, but she promised to do anything to get him back, even though he had beaten her regularly.

Shakilus had told his mother that he was smitten with a “beautiful girl”, saying that one day he would marry her. But by then McLean had demanded that Joseph honour her promise and deliver Shakilus to them.

Joseph arranged to meet Shakilus on the pretext of introducing him to a cousin. Instead, in July last year, she led him to a cul-de-sac in Thornton Heath, South London, sending a text message to alert the waiting gang.

Andre Thompson, then 16, beat him with a baseball bat while others kicked and stabbed him or acted as lookouts. When McLean took his turn to stab the boy, he twisted the knife — an act of revenge that left a gaping hole in Shakilus’s stomach.

Neighbours who ran to the scene found the boy crying: “Mummy, mummy, mummy . . . I don’t want to die.” Witnesses saw the floral pattern of Joseph’s dress among the fleeing gang and McLean’s orange bandana, the trademark headgear of the SMN gang.

Footage from a CCTV camera taken a short while later showed Joseph, of Brockley, southeast London, walking beside McLean, carrying his hooded top and a cream-coloured handbag stained with blood. She confessed later to friends that she had agreed to “get Shak set” and only liked him because he lavished gifts on her.

For Tyrell Ellis, 19, and his brother Don-Carlos, 18, the killing was just another step to fulfilling their dream of being gangsters. Tyrell, known as Drastik, had tried hard to build up a criminal record. He was subject to a two-year ASBO for gang-related crimes at the time of the attack. Don-Carlos, known as Rugz, was on bail and due to report to a police station on the day of the killing.

Along with the other members of the gang, Andre Johnson-Haynes, 18, a former public schoolboy from Croydon, who played rugby for London Irish, and Michael Akinfenwa, 17, were also found guilty of murder.

Times Recommends

• The playboy and the Tory party leader
• Bin Laden's family tree is impenetrable jungle
• Paul McCartney