Honey trap killers guilty

A criminology graduate and a music producer who lured a drug dealer into a honey trap and battered him to death for his £7,000 Rolex are facing years behind bars.

Aliysa Ellis, 30, and Christopher McDonald, 34, bludgeoned Paul Tong with his own exercise bar before ransacking his bedroom, the Old Bailey heard.

The 54-year-old’s body was discovered by his aunt partially covered the following day at their house on Willcott Road, Ealing, West London.

Ellis and McDonald plotted to rob Mr Tong after he boasted about his collection of watches including the Rolex he kept in a green and cream box on his bedside table.

The flamboyant muscleman enjoyed a lavish lifestyle and flaunted his designer timepiece, clothes and accessories at his home.

McDonald was out on licence from a life sentence at the time of the killing and recruited Ellis to help him rob Mr Tong.

She kept the victim occupied at his flat by showing off her breasts and knickers while demanding his crack cocaine.

McDonald insisted he had only met Ellis the day before and she was attempting to blackmail him after giving him oral sex in his car.

But jurors convicted McDonald of murder and Ellis of manslaughter after a six-week trial.

They first stood trial last year but the case was halted after Ellis breached her bail by going out for a night on the town and failed to attend court the next day.

In August 2007 McDonald had convinced another woman to join him in another crime escapade when Sophia Garnett, a manager at Matalan in Luton helped him grab £15,000 from the safe.

She let him hide in the shop overnight and he tied her up in the morning to try to fool police.

The manager’s boyfriend, Everton Soares, realised she was talking with McDonald and confronted her.

In November 2007 McDonald and three friends broke into Mr Soares’ home and waited for him to return home.

McDonald then emerged from the shadows and stabbed Mr Soares as his friends fired a Taser at his head and hit him with metal bars.

He admitted conspiracy to steal and causing grievous bodily harm with intent on 25 July 2008 and was handed an indeterminate sentence for public protection with a minimum term of six years.

McDonald, who once burgled his own grandmother while armed with a knife, was released from HMP Elmley on 8 September 2014.

On his release he obtained a first-class degree in psychology and teamed up with Ellis.

Jacob Hallam, prosecuting, told how she sent a series of text messages to McDonald when she was with Mr Tong.

She demanded crack cocaine from Mr Tong as she stripped off, exposing her breasts and knickers.

‘Mr Tong grabbed her and told her to calm down,’ Mr Hallam said.

‘The tone then changed, and Ms Ellis started to flash her breasts and her gusset and behave in a sexualised manner towards Mr Tong.

‘It was rumoured that he had a substantial amount of money.

‘The state of the room suggests that Mr Tong was killed by people who were seeking to find and take his money, his valuables and his drugs.

‘When the police searched the room after his death, they found neither drugs, nor valuables, nor any notes.’

Mr Tong who was known as ‘Yankee’ he had suffered a ruptured liver after he was battered with the exercise bar.

‘Ms Ellis was an associate of Mr Tong’s and she spent time with him on a number of occasions and on the day of his death.

‘Mr McDonald in contrast was not someone known to Mr Tong but was instead an associate of Ms Ellis.

‘Together, the Crown say, these defendants conspired to rob Paul Tong of the fruits of his criminality.

‘Together, having gained access to Mr Tong’s room on the night of 19 April 2017 the defendants put the conspiracy into effect and, in the course of doing, so subjected him to a blunt force assault, rupturing his liver and fracturing his ribs.’

Three deleted messages were found in McDonald’s telephone from Ellis when it was seized by the police.

They were sent between 20.53 and 20.57 and ‘make sure you get the P’. ‘P’ is slang for money followed by ‘Hurry’; and ‘His going to leave to go to court’.

Mr Tong had been due at Isleworth Crown Court that day to face a drugs trial but decided to try and get a sick note from a doctor.

Photographs of the room show a white and cream Rolex watch box in two parts while a forensic study revealed Ellis’s fingerprint on the container.

Margaret Newman, a friend of Mr Tong, told police his room was ‘like an Aladdin’s cave’.

She said he had ’12 pairs of designer sunglasses, belts and watches’ which were displayed around the room and another expensive watch on a teddy bear.

Ms Newman said: ‘He had about four, five watches. He had jewellery; he always had jewellery.

‘Anybody who came there was showing off to. You could see belts, you could see glasses,’ she said.

He also had a collection of ‘miniature bronze figures’ and a bag of cash kept in a drawer.

The former personal trainer was ‘proud’ of the expensive items and would get them out so people ‘knew what he had’.

McDonald insisted he knew nothing about the killing and asked why he was found carrying £895 in cash when he was arrested, McDonald said: ‘I’m lucky to enjoy quite a few incomes.

‘I have my videos and photography, my university loan and my Argos job. I charge £1,500 for a 15-minute video.’

Ellis, of Goodwin Road, Croydon, and McDonald, of Loveday Road, West Ealing, denied murder and conspiracy to rob.

McDonald was convicted on all counts while Ellis was convicted of manslaughter and conspiracy to rob.

They will be sentenced together in the week of 30 March.

ends