A schoolgirl who acted as a “honey trap” to lure a besotted boy to his death at the hands of a masked gang was jailed for a minimum of ten years yesterday.

Samantha Joseph, who was 15 at the time, led Shakilus Townsend, 16, to a group of six youths, including her boyfriend, who ambushed him, beat him with baseball bats and stabbed him six times. He bled to death crying for his mother and telling residents, who tried to stem his bleeding after the gang fled, that he did not want to die.

Amid shouts of “scum”, “shame” and “honey trap” from the public gallery at the Old Bailey, Joseph, now 17, looked momentarily nervous as she was led to the cells.

The six gang members, including Danny McLean, the 18-year-old who led the SMN (Shine My Nine) gang that had terrorised Thornton Heath in South London, were sentenced to a total of 77 years. The gang and Joseph had all denied murder but were given life sentences after being convicted following a ten-week trial.

McLean had discovered that Joseph had been seeing Shakilus behind his back for about a month. He demanded she trick Shakilus into going to a quiet cul-de-sac in July last year. The boy, who had told his mother that he wanted to marry Joseph, followed her to the street where he was murdered by the gang as she looked on laughing.

As McLean took his turn to stab Shakilus, he was seen to twist the knife, cutting his victim’s liver — a final and fatal act of revenge. The court heard that Shakilus, who bought Joseph expensive gifts, had been unaware that he was caught in a love triangle.

Surrounded by nine security guards as they stood in the dock, the gang remained belligerent as they were sentenced. Some shouted to friends in the gallery while others yelled as they were led to the cells.

Judge Richard Hawkins said Joseph had fallen under the “malign influence” of McLean. Her defence counsel claimed that if she not been so immature and infatuated with McLean, the “bright and intelligent girl” would now be starting a university course.

Jeremy Dean, QC, for Joseph, said she was sorry for her part in the murder and had learnt an important lesson about love and loyalty, adding that she had been “blinded” by her feeling for McLean. Minutes earlier Joseph, who was wearing a denim mini-skirt and pink shirt, had been inspecting her nails before resting her head on her hands as Nicola Dyer, her victim’s mother, told the court of the devastation she and her other four children felt after the murder.

In her impact statement, Ms Dyer told the Old Bailey: “I am unable to understand why these youngsters felt the need to use the brutality they did. I see them in the dock laughing among themselves and I’m once again consumed with anger. They have shown no genuine remorse.”

She said she could not forgive them, adding: “Every day we have sat and looked at these seven accused — in my eyes children. They were meant to have been focused on school and college, enjoying what should have been a bright future.”

At the time of the killing, three of the gang were either on police bail or had been given suspended sentences for violence. One had just been released from a detention order after being found carrying a knife. McLean had also once been convicted of using a compass to stab a pupil at school.

Joseph, 17, of Brockley, was ordered to be detained for a minimum of 10 years. McLean, of Croydon, was given a minimum of 15 years in detention and Andre Thompson, of Norwood, will be eligible for parole after 14 years.

Andre Johnson Haynes, 18, a former London Irish rugby player and public school boy from Croydon, brothers Tyrell Ellis, 19, and Don-Carlos Ellis, 18, of Thornton Heath, and Michael Akinfenwa, 18, of Norwood, were given minimum sentences of 12 years.

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