Couple in 'honeytrap' plot lured love rival to Sainsbury's car park before he was shot ten times

A couple who lured a woman’s previous partner to a ‘honeytrap’ meeting before gunning him down and leaving him paralysed have been jailed.

Daniel Gaudin, 23, fired 10 shots during a daytime attack in Morden in front of a number of families and shoppers. While he did not personally know his 26-year-old victim, he became aware of him after he was sent a video of his girlfriend Shannon Rule with other men.

He then spent the following three or four days plotting his attack, with Rule agreeing to lure the victim to a meeting outside a Sainsbury's on Central Road. Gaudin had hidden himself a short distance away and opened fire, causing life-changing injuries.

After what was described as a “catastrophic and ridiculous overreaction”, both Rule, of Ashwood Road, Chingford, and Gaudin, of Cranleigh Close, Waltham Cross, were jailed for a combined total of 57 years. Kingston Crown Court heard that Rule had sent a video of herself performing intimate acts with other men to the victim, with the reason for doing so remaining “unexplained”.

In turn, he sent the video onwards to Gaudin, who believed himself to be Rule’s only partner. Between June 19, 2021 and the day of the attack on June 22, text messages between the couple revealed Gaudin’s “extreme unhappiness” and he pressed Rule for details about the victim, such as his photograph and home address.

Judge Peter Lodder KC summarised: “Over the following days, it is clear that you Shannon Rule were very worried you would lose Gaudin as a boyfriend, and you were prepared to go to any lengths to maintain the relationship.” Text messages referenced Gaudin’s desire to kill the victim or to “shoot and stab his arse”. Eventually Rule set up a meeting with the victim shortly after 12.30pm on June 22, with him believing that he was meeting her alone to discuss the situation. The couple ordered a taxi and travelled for an hour and a half from Chingford to Morden, with Gaudin resting the large gun against his legs.

CCTV from the Sainsbury’s car park showed him walking to his hiding place, while Rule went to stand on the pavement to await the victim. In the moments before he appeared, the judge noted that women with their two small children were in the vicinity, as well as shoppers and other residents.

“With complete disregard to all others in the area, you fired those 10 shots,” Judge Lodder said.

“In the early afternoon with shops on one side of the road, homes on the other. Motorists were astonished, so brazen was it that some even thought it was a prank.” Immediately afterwards, Gaudin fled the scene and disposed of the gun, his mobile phone and his clothes in an alleyway behind a set of garages. He then re-emerged onto Central Road and was filmed by vigilant members of the public. After failing to persuade a woman to give him her phone, he travelled to a nearby MOT testing centre and made further attempts to change his appearance.

Both of them were arrested a short while later, with Rule claiming during her police interview that she was unaware of Gaudin’s intentions. Her lies however quickly unravelled after text messages between the couple revealed references to the gun and ammunition.

Meanwhile, emergency services and witnesses attempted to save the victim’s life and he was rushed to a nearby hospital with extensive injuries. Describing his injuries as “profound and life-changing”, the court heard that bullets had entered his back, caused grievous damage to his intestines, as well as a collapsed lung and a graze to his heart amongst other injuries.

He has since been left paralysed from the waist downwards and is wheelchair bound, with his mum forced to give up her job to be his primary carer. He is unable to wash his upper back, is unable to stand without supporting his weight on a frame and continues to suffer daily leg spasms and pain in his feet.

Unable to care for his child or be physically active, his injuries have left him with “prolonged depression and challenges to his mental health”. Gaudin pleaded guilty ahead of his trial to attempted murder, while Rule was convicted by a jury. “This is a senseless tragedy,” Judge Lodder said. “Your victim, a man now aged 26, faces a lifetime of serious, painful and depressing disability. You two, only 23 years old, will be going to prison for a very long time - all because of the contents of a video recording.” Rule has been jailed for 30 years, while Gaudin has been locked up for 27 years and will remain on extended licence for a further two years.

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