Vigilante gang which 'tortured and beat teen accused of rape to death' was led by a woman

The 18-year-old had withdrawn the rape allegation, the Old Bailey heard

Emma Hall, 21, allegedly laughed as three men attacked him at his bedsit

She then drove Luke Harwood and his killers to quiet spot, the court heard



Sickening attack: Luke Harwood, 18, was severely beaten at his bedsit before being driven to a field and 'finished off', the court heard

A woman led a vigilante gang who tortured an 18-year-old to death after he was accused of rape, the Old Bailey heard.

Emma Hall, 21, helped three men kill Luke Harwood in Romford, Essex, after an 18-year-old girl claimed he had attacked her two years earlier, the court was told.

Mr Harwood was kicked and stamped on with such force that the bones in his face were broken, before he was dumped under a mattress in a quiet lane, the Old Bailey heard.



The 'victim' had made a complaint about Mr Harwood to the police two years earlier, when she was 16, but the matter was dropped when she withdrew the allegation, jurors learned.

Police investigated but found that 'it was clear she was not in fact saying that he had raped her and no further action was taken against him'.



The girl pointed Mr Harwood out to his killers at a chance meeting at a house on the evening of May 27 last year, said p rosecutor Simon Denison QC.

'She told the others that he was the person she had told [Hall] about at the time, who had raped her,' added Mr Denison.

James Danby, 27, and Jovan Roberts, 28, took pictures of Mr Harwood in his council bedsit to show to her. Minutes later, they attacked him in his room , the court heard.

Mr Harwood, who was 5ft 7in and weighed just seven stone, had just collected his keys and begun moving in after falling out with his girlfriend.

The father of one, who had an eight-month-old son, was then brutally beaten by Danby, Roberts and Hall's boyfriend Tony O’Toole, 29, the prosecutor said.

Mr Denison said: ‘Within a very few hours of those photographs being taken he was dead. He was about to be severely beaten up and brutally killed.’

'The men, over a prolonged period of time, severely beat him up by punching and kicking him to the head, so he was bleeding heavily from his injuries and his face was terribly swollen.'

Hall cackled throughout the two-hour assault, the court heard.



She later allegedly drove two of the men and Mr Harwood to a quiet lane in Woodford Green, east London, in her blue Fiat Punto, where he was taken to the bank of a stream and 'finished off'.



Once there, Danby tried to choke Mr Harwood, but when he put up a fight he stamped on his head 20 times. He later boasted the victim's head 'went like a marshmallow and popped where his brain came out', jurors were told.



Hall initially claimed Danby had been solely responsible for the fatal attack, in a bid to save herself and her lover O'Toole, it is alleged.

Violent murder: Emma Hall, 21, helped three men kill Mr Harwood and hide his body under a mattress, the Old Bailey heard

But her lies unravelled when officers went to the house and found the younger girl alone and petrified.



Mr Denison added: 'At one point Danby brought Luke into Emma Hall's room to show them what they had done to him.



'They could see his face was a mess, his nose looked broken and there was blood and bruises all over his face.'



When they returned from killing Mr Harwood and dumping his body, the attackers were laughing and joking, the court was told.



Mr Denison said: 'They killed him by punching and kicking him and stamping on his head many, many times. The bones in his face were crushed.'

He said the gang then bought petrol and set fire to their bloody clothing, before cleaning up bloodstains at the house.

The following evening, Hall drove two of the attackers and two other men to the spot where the body had been covered with a mattress and other rubbish, the court heard.

Mr Denison said: 'They had with them knives and a pair of bolt cutters that they were intending to use to mutilate his body to make it more difficult for him to be identified by cutting off his fingers and removing his teeth.'

But Hall had secretly tipped off police, who were waiting for them when they arrived, said .

Mr Denison told the jury: 'His murder was quite extraordinarily callous, violent and brutal.'

Hall, Danby, O’Toole, and Roberts deny murder and causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

Hall, Danby, O’Toole, Billy Duggan, 21, and Khalid Hassan, 20, deny conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.