A group of three men and two women were found guilty of committing a 'honeytrap' murder, reported Mailonline.
Vishal Gohel, aged 44, was fatally attacked in his flat in Bushey in Hertfordshire, on 23 January 2022 and he died at the scene.
A jury at St Albans Crown Court on Wednesday (12) convicted Tevin Leslie, 23, Sakeen Gordon, 22, Brandon Browne, 22, Yarley Georgia Bruce-Annan, 22 and Faith Hoppie, 22, for murdering Gohel.
Meanwhile, the sixth defendant, Tiana Edwards Hancock, 20, was cleared of murder, manslaughter and conspiracy to rob.
The court heard that Gohel was expecting to have sex with three women, but was gagged and beaten when their male accomplices arrived to rob him.
Prosecutor Charlotte Newell KC informed that a neighbour found Gohel's body following the 'horrific' incident.
"Gohel was lifeless on the floor of the bedroom. Gaffer tape was round the lower part of his face. A post-mortem examination found he had suffered a significant blow or blows to the head. Both sides of his face were injured. There was internal bruising to his scalp, eyes and jaw," Newell was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
"There was brain damage and his voice box had been fractured, consistent with squeezing of the neck."
Following the murder, the second floor flat had been tidied to clean the scene, and Gohel's iPhone and iWatch were stolen.
The victim had been in contact with Bruce-Annan through Craig's List, an internet marketplace where people can buy and sell various goods and services.
The female defendants arrived in Bushey at 1am in the morning of the incident.
Later, the men arrived at the scene in Leslie's Audi. Browne had been picked up in Bromley. Leslie then drove onto Ealing to pick up Gordon, who is his cousin.
Earlier, Gohel was captured on CCTV at a nearby convenience store, close to his residence, where he made purchases of alcohol, soft drinks, cigarettes, and condoms.
"No attempts had been made to contact the emergency services, but there had been efforts had been made to clean the flat. He was dead or dying when they left the flat. There was no attempt to provide assistance to him," the prosecutor told the court.
Judge Richard Foster remanded the three men and two women in custody. They will be sentenced at the same court on 26 September.
Damian Talbot