A care worker accused of luring a professional gambler to his death in a 'honeytrap' murder claimed she did not know he would be killed when she fled his flat to avoid having sex.

Leonie Granger, 25, admitted she enjoyed being wined and dined by poker ace Mehmet Hassan, 56, after she introduced herself in the exclusive Palm Beach Casino, in Mayfair.

Mr Hassan treated her to dinner at a top West End restaurant, bought champagne and handed her cash to gamble with as he was seduced by pretty Granger, the Old Bailey heard.

But the dates were a plot allegedly hatched by boyfriend Kyrron Jackson and Nicholas Chandler, both 28, to rob the high roller.

The father-of-three was was tied up and savagely kicked to death after Granger let the robbers into his Islington property before leaving in a taxi, it is said.

But giving evidence today she claimed the plan was not on her mind when she asked Mr Hassan to phone her a taxi in the early hours of March 24 last year.

Wearing a buttoned-up powder blue shirt, navy blazer and gold crucifix chain, Granger said: "I didn't want to have sex with him. That's all it boiled down to."

"I walked out, not expecting anyone to be there and I panicked. I didn't expect them to be there."

Granger said she saw Chandler with another man, but claimed she did not know they would attack Mr Hassan.

"I thought Mehmet would just give the money and that's it. I didn't think anything would happen." - Leonie Granger

Prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC asked her: "Did it occur to you that Mehmet Hassan might have been rather frightened by the sight of two strange men arriving in his flat at 1.30am?"

She replied: "I thought Mehmet would just give the money and that's it. I didn't think anything would happen."

Granger said they got a total of £3,000 from Mr Hassan including £1,000 that he gave her for safekeeping while they were at the casino earlier that night.

Mobile phone footage shows her apparently laughing as Jackson and Chandler allegedly 'spray' stolen £50 notes around as Mr Hassan lay dead in his flat.

"They were just being idiots," Granger said, as she denied having discussed what happened after she left as they 'celebrated' together.

Mr Hassan was allegedly tied up and kicked to death after Jackson and Chandler entered the flat in Baxter Road, Canonbury, Islington, north London, in the early hours of 24 March.

He was found lying in a pool of blood in his bedroom after his sister, Abide Ispanedi, raised the alarm at 9pm.

Granger, of Balmoral Road, Gillingham, denies murder and conspiracy to falsely imprison Mehmet Hassan. She has admitted her part in the robbery of Mr Hassan.

Chandler, of Heenan Close, Barking, east London, and Jackson, of Romborough Way, Lewisham, southeast London, deny robbery, murder and conspiracy to falsely imprison Mehmet Hassan.

Chandler and Jackson also deny two further counts of conspiracy to commit robbery, two count of conspiracy to possess firearms with intent, two counts of conspiracy to possess imitation firearms and two counts of conspiracy to falsely imprison.

The trial continues.