Trio who murdered rival drug dealer in Sheffield park jailed for life
Michael Billington reports on the sentencing of three people for the murder of Sacad Ali
A sex worker who lured a man to his death and the two teenagers who attacked him have been jailed for murder.
Rebecca Moore, 25, persuaded 24-year-old Sacad Ali to go to Ponderosa Park in Sheffield, where he was stabbed to death by Barney Griffin and Jack Douglas, who were aged 17 and 16 at the time.
Drug dealers Griffin and Douglas plotted the attack with Moore in revenge for Mr Ali selling drugs "on their turf", Sheffield Crown Court was told.
Moore was found guilty of murder after a 16-day trial at Sheffield Crown Court. She was given a life sentence, with a minimum term of 15 years.
Griffin, of Dixon Drive, Sheffield, and Douglas, of Brightholmlee Lane, Sheffield, had already pleaded guilty to murder. They were given life sentences.
Griffin was told he would be detained for at least 16 years. Douglas was given a 15-year minimum term.
Sentencing all three, the Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, said: "You were all in this together."
The court heard Mr Ali had been playing video games at a friend's flat in the Netherthorpe area of the city when he received a call from an unknown number just after 4am on 9 March.
Moore, who made the call, convinced Mr Ali to leave the flat and meet her in the park, promising to buy crack cocaine from him and offering him "sexual favours".
Griffin and Douglas then stabbed him to death with machetes before fleeing the scene.
The judge said it was likely the teenagers had been "recruited or corrupted" to enter the "fetid swamp" of drug dealing.
"If ever a case that demonstrates the twin evils of drug peddling and carrying knives, particularly young people carrying knives, this is it," he said.
In a statement, Mr Ali's family described him as a "loving son and brother".
"He was the heart of our family and was always happy and smiling," they said.
"All those who knew Sacad, knew how positive and happy he was. It feels like all the light out of our lives has been taken.
"Our lives have been completely broken by what has happened, and we will never be able to forget. Det Ch Insp Ben Wood, of South Yorkshire Police, said: "The two teenagers murdered Sacad in a barbaric way, with Moore also murdering him by duping him into meeting and luring him to the spot where he would be brutally attacked."
He added: "Knife crime takes too many young people's lives, and it is heartbreaking that Sacad's life was ended in this manner.”
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