Honeytrap murder: Life in prison for Saul Murray's killers who seduced and stabbed him for Rolex watches
LUTON, ENGLAND: The four convicts charged with the murder of Saul Murray were sentenced on March 3, 2023. Murray was seduced, drugged, and stabbed to death by two women, Supreet Dhillon, and Temidayo Awe, in an attempt to rob him after he posted on Instagram with two Rolex watches.
The 33-year-old was set up in a honeytrap by Dhillon and Awe, they seduced and stripped him and even used the date rape drug GHB on him, but they were unable to rob him as the drug did not completely knock him out, so they invited their male accomplices, Ikram Affia and Cleon Brown, and they stabbed him. Murray was found naked in a pool of blood in the communal entrance to his flat in New Town Street, Luton, in February 2022.
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Police were later able to identify Affia by the distinctive and rare designer Moncler coat he was wearing. It matched the one worn in the CCTV on the night of the offense. Affia was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 25 years, and Dhillon, Brown, and Awe, were convicted of manslaughter. Brown was jailed for 11 years, Dhillon was sentenced to 10 years, and Awe was sentenced to seven years.
Honeytrap murder plot
The murder took place on February 27, 2022, after Surpreet Dhillon made contact with Murray via Instagram and WhatsApp. The four defendants traveled to Luton from London late on February 26, 2022, in a Mercedes A-class car that Brown had hired. Apparently, Murray met the two women outside his flat while the two men went off in the car and used a drive-thru McDonald's.
According to the CCTV camera footage, Dhillon and Awe entered the flat at around 11.30 pm on February 26, 2022. Then, the women leave the flat, and 19 seconds later, they are followed by the two men. Affia was carrying a large knife in his right hand. They assumed Murray was rich, but the Rolex watches were fake, and Murray had no expensive items in the flat, which he had just occupied. A postmortem found that Murray died from a deep wound to his thigh. It penetrated his femoral artery, and he bled out.
Murray's body was discovered by a nightshift worker. The police linked Dhillon through her Instagram contact with the victim. Awe was picked up through her social media contact with Dhillon. Dhillon admitted targeting six men in similar honeytraps between October 2021 and February 2022. She also said that Awe had been involved on four occasions.
Cavernous Void
In a victim's personal statement, his father, Colin Murray, described Murray as a wonderful son and described his grief over watching his son die on CCTV.
Judge Michael Simon said, "Nothing this court says or does can possibly repair the cavernous void in the hearts and lives of those to whom Saul Murray meant so much."
Also, Detective Inspector Dale Mepstead, from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit, said, "This was a very lengthy and complex investigation, which involved scrutinizing hours of CCTV, phone data, vehicle telematics, and other evidence to place each of them at Murray's flat at the time of the offense. I hope that the knowledge that all four people involved in this horrific incident will be locked up for a very long time can bring some justice to Saul's loved ones."