A teenage girl accused of organising the brutal murder of a gifted student is a ‘practised liar’ who tried to cover her tracks after the killing, the Old Bailey heard.

Sanaa Ibrahim, 18, was the ‘inside woman’ for three teenage boys intent on killing 17-year-old Jeremie Malenge, a former straight A Petchey Academy student, it is claimed.

She allegedly helped them ambush Mr Malenge and his 17-year-old friend outside Hackney Central station and track them through the streets on March 22 last year, until Mr Malenge was pinned down in Homerton and stabbed in the chest.

Giving evidence, Ibrahim admitted telling a string of lies to the police, but said she was too scared to come forward with the truth.

Her, Tre Morgan, and two boys aged 17 and 14, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, are all accused of murdering Mr Malenge. Ibrahim, of Opal Apartments, Homerton, admitted she told the police a bogus story about her involvement, but said she had ‘promised myself to tell the truth when I give evidence’.

She said she had been present when ‘all the boys got rid of the knives in the canal’, but said she initially lied about her knowledge because she was scared of the 17-year-old defendant ‘and his crew’. But David Hislop QC, for Morgan, accused her of deliberately lying to the police to ‘cover her tracks’, then crafting a defence to suit her own false story.

“You are a practised liar, you are pretty good at telling lies,” he said.

After the initial ambush, Ibrahim went to meet the three boys behind Hackney Town Hall,

but initially told police she had been hiding at this point, it’s claimed

It is alleged she then helped the boys find Mr Malenge, tracking him in a minicab until they launched the deadly knife attack.

Ibrahim fled to Swindon after the stabbing, but told police she had been in London with her aunt, the court heard.

Ibrahim, Morgan, 18, of Lyham Road, Clapham, the 17-year-old, from Woodford Green, and the 14-year-old from Stoke Newington, all deny murder.

The trial continues.