THE FACES OF EVIL
Killers who met in jail guilty of rape, torture and burning alive single mum
Mum lured into murder trap
‘They should never be released’
Brute’ s smiling selfie on phone
‘Most violent and cowardly people’
Two killers out on parole from life sentences have been convicted of the murder of a mum who was lured to a “trap” where she was raped and tortured before being burned alive.
Stephen Unwin and William McFall, who were working as handymen, held Quyen Ngoc Nguyen “captive” at a house during a violent, horror, four-hour ordeal before the former cellmates shared a curry together when their victim lay dying.
The cruel duo then “disposed of ” her body by fire at a dirt track.
The 28-year-old nail salon worker, who had business qualifications and hired out rental properties, had been lured to a house for a meeting about potential maintenance work but ended up being forced to hand over bank cards before being brutally killed.
Her badly burned remains, which could only be identified through dental records, were found face down on the back seat of her Audi A4, which had been engulfed in 30-foot flames during a fire that started when she was still “just” alive.
Stephen Unwin, 40, of St. Oswald’s Terrace, Houghton, and William McFall, 51, of Waterloo Road, Blackpool, who met while serving time at HMP Swaleside in Kent for previous, separate murders, blamed each other for Miss Nguyen’s death.
But after a trial at Newcastle Crown Court, during which it was heard the motive for their crime was “violent, warped sexual fantasy and greed”, jurors took just four hours to find both men guilty of murder.
Unwin was also found guilty of Miss Nguyen’s rape. McFall was cleared of that charge.
The killers, who were constantly flanked by at least seven guards during the case, now face spending the rest of their lives behind bars.
Prosecutor Jamie Hill QC said some of the properties Miss Nguyen was involved in had been used as cannabis farms and it is claimed the men were involved in stealing crops.
In a shocking message sent shortly before the murder of Miss Nguyen, McFall asked Unwin: “We raping the ***** ?
The court heard it is unclear how exactly the single mum, who was “tiny” in stature, was lured to Unwin’s house on August 14, 2017. But prosecutors say she walked into a “trap” and was carried out, dying, in a plastic sheet four hours later.
Mr Hill said Unwin greeted the victim at the back door, while gesturing for McFall to stay out of sight until she was inside and alone with them.
Mr Hill added: “At various stages McFall and Unwin were alone with Miss Nguyen but for the majority of the time they were both in the house with her.
“The prosecution says that she was sexually abused and raped and also threatened into providing her PIN numbers for her two bank cards.
“It may be that they were also after the whereabouts of other cannabis growers.
“When the defendants had finished abusing her, and gained access to her money, they decided to dispose of her, determined to destroy the evidence of what they had been doing.”
Described by her sister and friends as kind, honest and good, Miss Quyen moved to England with hopes of having a better life.
Mr Justice Morris will sentence the pair at a later date.
Mr Justice Morris said a “whole life” sentence will be considered in the case of Stephen Unwin and William McFall when they learn their fate at a later date.
McFall shouted that the jury had been “brainwashed” by the fact he had killed before and that he had not had a fair trial.
He said: “That’s why I have got found guilty, no other reason. You have found an innocent man guilty.”