Trio sentenced over honeytrap murder in UK after luring young man to his death

A woman in the UK has been sentenced for the murder of a 24-year-old man, whom she lured from a friend's house, ultimately leading to his death. The incident took place in East Sussex, England, while Sakard Ali was at a friend's house playing video games.

At 4 a.m. on March 9, Ali received a call from an unknown number. On the other end was 25-year-old Rebecca Moore, who coaxed Ali to leave his friend's house to meet her at Ponderosa Park. However, this was actually a conspiracy.

When Ali arrived at the park, 18-year-old Barney Griffin and 17-year-old Jack Douglas ambushed him, fatally stabbing him with a machete. South Yorkshire Police stated that Ali "pleaded" with the two to stop during the "ruthless and brutal" attack, but they subsequently fled the scene. Despite the efforts of paramedics and police, Ali died at the park from his injuries.

"Our officers arrived at Ponderosa Park and immediately secured the scene to preserve any potential evidence, before starting to gather witness accounts from as many people as were in the area at the time," said Detective Chief Inspector Ben Wood. "They provided descriptions of the attackers, including details of the clothing they were wearing, which matched the clothing we recovered from Griffin’s home following his arrest."

As pressure mounted, Griffin and Douglas surrendered to police on March 12. On the same day, an officer approached Moore in Burngreave, Sheffield, after reports of a suspect in the area. The officer recorded the encounter with his body-worn camera and can be heard asking the 25-year-old woman for her name. Moore lied to the officer, telling him her name was "Lauren Smith," but the officer was certain the woman was Rebecca Moore. He requested that dispatch send him a photo of the suspect and confirmed her identity after she refused to provide identification. She was arrested, and the three were later convicted of murder.

"The two teenagers murdered Sakard in a barbaric manner, and Moore also murdered him by deceiving him into meeting her and luring him to the location where he would be brutally attacked," said Wood. "Instead of admitting her crime, Moore made Sakard’s loved ones relive the events of the day he died, making them endure a court trial, after which she was convicted of murder."

All three were sentenced on November 28 (local time). Griffin will serve 16 years in prison, and Douglas will serve 15 years. Moore was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder with a minimum term of 15 years.