LONDON—A judge has jailed two men for life for the “brutal” murder of a wealthy British Chinese pensioner who fell for a property scam and he said they had showed a “complete disregard” for her family.
On Wednesday the Recorder of London, Mr. Justice Mark Lucraft, KC, sentenced them to a minimum of 35 years each and said: “From the moving victim impact statements it is clear how much she was loved. This was a 71-year-old woman who suffered brutal injuries. You showed a complete disregard in the way you chose to dispose of her remains.”
Kam owned a house in Barnet, north London, and a shop with three flats above it, in Willesden, northwest London.
Al-Jundi tricked her into believing he had a rich friend who was willing to pay £5 million for the Barnet house, which was worth around £1 million, and well over the market price for the other property.
The court heard Kam was “doubtless tempted” as she stood to make a substantial profit.
Al-Jundi met with a solicitor in June 2021 and “claimed that both properties were owned by Louise Kam who wanted to move to China and put both of them into his name.”
Judge Said Al-Jundi Told ‘Lie After Lie’
Lucraft told Al-Jundi: “You told lie after lie to Louise Kam. You claimed to be a person of means and to have a rich girlfriend ... in fact you had no assets and no rich girlfriend.”
He said Al-Jundi was “something of a Walter Mitty” and had carried out a “cynical deception” of Kam and had clearly “resolved” to kill her and had even lied to his own mother, saying Kam was dying of cancer and was going to leave him her properties in her will.
El-Abboud had been living at the property rent-free and had been doing odd-jobs on the house and garden for Al-Jundi.
Lucraft said the jury watched a TikTok video of El-Abboud inside Kam’s house in Barnet in which he “mocked the wealth of Louise Kam and showed how he was enjoying the trappings of that wealth.”
Son Regrets He Could Not Prevent Mother Falling for ‘Lies’
A victim impact statement from Kam’s son, Gregory, was read out in which he said, “I deeply regret I wasn’t able to do enough to prevent my mother falling for his lies.”He said he had undergone counselling as a result of the impact of the case and was haunted by the thought of how the pair had “tricked, trapped, overpowered, and murdered a defenceless, elderly woman in her own home.”
On July 26, 2021, Al-Jundi arrived shortly after Kam and then left again with Maria Amariucai, an aspiring model who he was trying to seduce, despite being married.
The defendants both had Arabic interpreters throughout the trial but it was clear from the evidence Al-Jundi had a good understanding of English and had probably read legal papers for the purchase of the house.
At the trial the pair mounted a cut-throat defence in which they pointed the finger at each other.
Although Al-Jundi did not give evidence, he told police he had gone out shopping for jewellery with Amariucai, and had left Kam behind with El-Abboud.
Al-Jundi said El-Abboud had killed Kam and asked him to help cover it up.
Amariucai was friends with both El-Abboud—who was, like her, a Romanian national—and Al-Jundi at the time and she gave evidence last month that, during a car journey from London to Coventry, El-Abboud had confessed to her he had killed Kam.
