A professional gambler tried to woo a young woman with champagne at a top restaurant unaware he was a "soft target" being lured into a deadly honey trap, a court heard.

Leonie Granger, 25, is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of her part in the murder of 56-year-old Mehmet Hassan who was tied up and kicked to death for the winnings he had stashed in his London flat in March last year.

After the divorced father-of-three had "wined and dined" Granger, she reported back to her accomplices that he was "flashy" and had "never worked a day in his life", jurors were told.

Prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC told how Granger set up the sting with her boyfriend Kyrron Jackson and his friend Nicholas Chandler, both 28, after the men had been involved in two armed robberies on the Grosvenor Casino - but with limited success.

The plot was hatched a month before the killing when the care assistant met Mr Hassan at a Mayfair casino and they exchanged phone numbers.

Reading out an exchange of text messages, Mr Aylett said Granger had introduced herself as Rachel "so it rather looks as though Mehmet Hassan was being set up from the very first".

Mr Hassan suggested they meet for "a couple of glasses of champagne" and dinner on Saturday March 8 last year at the smart Knightsbridge restaurant, Zuma.

He told her: "I live in Islington and I'm a professional poker player. Don't laugh Rachel because believe me I am quite good.

"Maybe with your brains and my money we can make you in to a great player."

Her reply was lost but he responds: "Funds is my department Rachel plus it would be my pleasure to have the opportunity to wine and dine you."

On the night they were due to meet, she appeared to say there was a problem and by 9pm, he went on alone to the Palm Beach Casino in Mayfair, saying: "Such a shame. Was really looking forward to tonight. The main thing is your ok Rachel (sic)".

Undeterred, Mr Hassan arranged to meet Granger again the next Saturday for dinner in Knightsbridge then on to the Playboy Casino in Mayfair.

Mr Aylett said the couple spent just an hour at the casino before he cashed in his chips and was given £1,900 in cash. He then handed over two £50 notes and was given two sealed packets each containing £1,000.

They went back to Mr Hassan's Islington flat but Granger left in a minicab shortly afterwards and asked to be taken to an address off the Old Kent Road in south London, rather than home to Gillingham in Kent.

The cab driver recalled Granger telling someone on her mobile phone that Hassan was "flashy" and had been showing off, saying: "This guy is a professional gambler. He has never worked a day in his life."

Mr Aylett said: "The prosecution suggest that it must have already been agreed between Miss Granger, Kyrron Jackson and Nicholas Chandler that Miss Granger would find a soft target with ready cash in order that Jackson and Chandler might rob him.

"After all, Jackson and Chandler had had to go to a deal of trouble to rob the Grosvenor Casino. Thus far, the haul on the first robbery had amounted to £10,000 to be split four ways and the second robbery had been a disaster."

He went on: "The prosecution suggest Jackson and Chandler had moved on from targeting casinos to someone who frequented the casino and had sums of very ready cash."

Granger is charged with Mr Hassan's murder and false imprisonment alongside Jackson and Chandler.

The two men are further charged with robbing Mr Hassan, two counts of plotting to rob employees of Grosvenor Casinos, two counts of conspiracy to have a shotgun and imitation firearm in January last year, and two counts of conspiracy to falsely imprison.

Granger, of Gillingham, Kent; Jackson, of Romborough Way, Lewisham, south-east London; and Chandler, of Lee High Road, south-east London, deny the charges against them.

On the night of the murder, Mr Hassan had treated Granger to another expensive meal at Nobu in Mayfair before they went on to the Palm Beach Casino nearby.

Earlier in the day he had joked to his brother Ali and a friend that he had met a woman and he wasn't even paying her, jurors were told.

Members of his family wept in the courtroom as CCTV film was shown of the pair at the casino just hours before the killing.

Granger was captured on cameras wearing a strapless black and white top with slim-fitting black trousers and heels, teamed with a large gold necklace.

They went to the casino restaurant where they were seen "kissing passionately" by a poker supervisor who told them to "get a room".

Mr Aylett said it was apparent to her that the victim had already been drinking as he referred to Granger as his "fiancee".

After an hour, they went to the gaming floor and Mr Hassan gave Granger some money. At one point, he is seen to drape his scarf around her bare shoulders.

Not long afterwards, he cashed in £240 of winnings and they left in a black cab. The CCTV showed that while his back was turned to the cashier, Granger appeared to be sending a text on her mobile phone.

Mr Aylett said: "They only played for about a quarter of an hour. Then they left the casino. It begs the question: whose idea had that been? What promises might Miss Granger have made to Mehmet Hassan to leave the blackjack table?"

The trial continues.