Sunderland, a quiet city in the United Kingdom, was rocked by a crime that shattered its image of peace and safety. The victim was Ken Nguyen, a 28-year-old Filipina mother whose life was tragically cut short in August 2017.

Ken, who was born in Vietnam, moved to the UK in 2010. She studied at the London School of Economics before starting a family. After separating from the father of her two children, Ken and her sister, also a single mother, moved to Sunderland for a new start.

They opened a successful nail salon, providing Ken with the means to support her children and send money home.

Beyond her business, Ken was known for her compassion, volunteering at a community center to help newly arrived Vietnamese immigrants find apartments and jobs.

It was this charitable work that inadvertently led her to her assailant. Ken met Stephen Unwin, a man recently released from prison on parole, while viewing an apartment complex where he worked.

Unbeknownst to Ken, Unwin was a convicted felon with a history of violence and serious crimes. In 1998, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for robbery and arson, having set fire to a home with the victim’s body inside to destroy evidence.

Unwin’s accomplice, William McFall, also had a violent past, having received a life sentence in 1996 for a fatal assault during a home invasion. Both men met and became close friends while incarcerated. McFall was later released on license by the parole board in 2012, followed by Unwin in 2014.

Instead of integrating into society, the two former prisoners quickly returned to a life of crime, engaging in activities such as cannabis cultivation and theft. Unwin used his new job to gain access to information about potential victims.

On August 14, 2017, Ken informed her sister she would stay late to clean the salon. The two sisters had agreed Ken would clean, while her sister would take the children home and prepare dinner. Ken’s sister grew worried when Ken failed to return home by 7:00 p.m.

She called Ken, who replied that she had to handle some unfinished business. Later that night, Ken’s sister was awakened by a sense of dread. She checked Ken’s room and found it empty. A call to Ken’s phone went unanswered.

The next morning, after contacting everyone she knew, Ken’s sister was notified by authorities that Ken’s car had been located. Police dashcam footage showed firefighters attempting to extinguish a vehicle fire.

Upon investigating the car’s wreckage, police discovered a severely burned body in the back seat. Dental records confirmed the victim was Ken Nguyen. The brutal nature of the crime—a robbery, assault, and arson—shocked the quiet community.

Within 24 hours, police arrested Stephen Unwin and William McFall. Evidence quickly mounted, revealing a premeditated plot.

The prosecution theorized that Unwin lured Ken to his home under the pretense of showing her a potential rental property for a Vietnamese family.

Ken arrived at Unwin’s home around 7:00 p.m., unaware that McFall was already waiting inside. The two men immediately seized Ken, dragging her to a room where they subjected her to hours of physical and sexual abuse, attempting to force her to reveal her ATM PIN for financial gain.

The attackers’ depravity was extreme; they allegedly used one of Unwin’s children’s lightsaber toys in the violation. After obtaining the PIN, Unwin left to withdraw £500, returning with alcohol.

Under the influence of alcohol, the two men continued their abuse. They eventually placed a plastic bag over Ken’s head and forced alcohol down her throat.

Believing she was unresponsive, they rolled her body into a blanket, loaded her into the back seat of her own car, doused the vehicle with gasoline, and set it ablaze.

Forensic evidence suggested Ken was still alive when the car was set on fire. After the fire, the men went to a bar and used Ken’s stolen funds to buy items at a mall.

The trial, which began in 2018, exposed the sheer calculation of the perpetrators. Text messages proved the crime was premeditated.

The defense attempted to argue the men were simply brawling, but their coordinated movements and the subsequent destruction of evidence negated this claim.

In court, the two former friends turned on each other, shouting and blaming one another for the fatal acts. The prosecution, however, presented evidence of correspondence between the two while they were in jail, plotting to feign a feud to confuse the judge and gain leniency.

The judge saw through the defense’s spectacle. In April 2018, both Stephen Unwin and William McFall were found guilty and sentenced to two full life sentences, meaning they would never be eligible for parole.

The judge criticized the parole board that released them and acknowledged the enduring grief of Ken’s family, who traveled from the Philippines to witness the proceedings.