Two men have been found guilty of murdering a Potters Bar businesswoman whose body was dumped in a rubbish bin, after a planned £4.6m property fraud went wrong.

Louise Kam, a 71-year-old mother-of-two, was strangled with a hairdryer cord and her body dumped after being lured to her home on July 26, 2021.

Kusai Al-Jundi, 25, of Harrow, London, and Mohamed El-Abboud, 28, have been convicted of her murder, with both defendants weeping as the verdict was read out at the Old Bailey.

Welwyn Hatfield Times: Kusai Al-Jundi (left) and Mohamed El-Abboud.Kusai Al-Jundi (left) and Mohamed El-Abboud. (Image: Crown Prosecution Service)

Al-Jundi, who worked as a chef at a restaurant, had befriended Ms Kam and hatched a plan to to deceive her into giving him control of two properties she owned in Willesden and East Barnet, as well as signing control of her finances over to him.

El-Abboud, who worked as a delivery driver at the same restaurant, moved into one of her houses at Gallants Farm Road, East Barnet, while Ms Kam believed Al-Jundi had offered her millions of pounds for the homes.

She hoped to use the money to pay off a mortgage and purchase a property for her children.

On July 26, 2021, she arrived at her house in Barnet expecting to finalise the sale of the property. Twenty minutes later, the two men were seen leaving the building, but Ms Kam never reappeared.

Prosecutor Oliver Glasgow KC told the court that text messages sent from Ms Kam's phone after her death were sent by her murderers.

READ MORE: Body found in search for missing woman as two men charged with murder

"Little did those closest to her realise that when they were replying to those messages, Louise Kam was already dead," the prosecutor said.

"She had been strangled, her body dumped unceremoniously in a rubbish bin, and a plan was afoot to conceal her murder and plunder her life savings."

Detective chief inspector Brian Howie, of the Metropolitan Police, added: "Two young men have preyed on an elderly lady in order to try and plunder her life savings, and then take ownership of her property before unceremoniously dumping her in a rubbish bin.

"It was all driven by greed. Louise had money, she had cars, she had property and she had a life that both of those people wanted.

"And the only way for them to get that, they saw, was to kill Louise and then to send heartless messages to her friends and family pretending that she had fled to China."