Jailed: Woman who lured Canonbury dad to ‘honey trap’ death

88 years for three who plotted the capture of poker player and beat him to death for his winnings

A young woman has been jailed for 16 years for her part in the “pitiless and wicked” murder of a Canonbury poker player.

Care assistant Leonie Granger, 25, was the bait in a “honey trap” that led to 56-year-old father of three Mehmet Hassan being kicked and stamped to death at his flat in Baxter Road in March last year.

Granger, of Balmoral Road, Gillingham, had met Mr Hassan at a Mayfair casino and on their second meeting went back to his home where she let in her boyfriend Kyrron Jackson, 28, and his friend Nicholas Chandler, 29, who then tied up the gambler and beat him to death for his winnings.

While Mr Hassan’s beaten and bloody body lay undiscovered, the killers were filmed on Granger’s mobile phone throwing wads of £50 notes around.

Granger was convicted of manslaughter at the Old Bailey on April 15 as Jackson and Chandler, who will serve a minimum of 36 years each, were found guilty of murder after the two-month long trial. All three were sentenced at the Old Bailey today.

Sentencing, Judge William Kennedy described the attack as “pitiless and wicked”, adding: “It was quite simply an act of brutality which defies reason and compassion.”

The judge said she had been “deceitful from the outset” and had “lost her sense and compassion” when she got involved in the scheme.

Granger’s barrister Orlando Pownall QC said she had worked with the elderly since she was 18 and had only got involved with the plot because she was in love with Jackson and “fell in with his desires”.

Mr Pownall said she now “deeply regretted” what had happened, adding: “Her head was turned by Mr Jackson who she loved and to some extent by Mr Chandler who was persuasive and superficially charming.”

All three were convicted of robbing Mr Hassan and conspiracy to falsely imprison him.