The Tinder hitman and his lover: How glamorous pupil nurse turned embroiled in homicide plot with man she had met simply FIVE days earlier than
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Old Lust is a powerful drug that can seriously impact your judgment and lead to questionable life choices.
Stanislava Kukusheva, a blonde, pouting 36-year-old nurse, who is currently embarking on a five-year jail sentence, can certainly testify to that.
The former fruit-picker and cleaner moved to England for a better life and eventually enrolled in a nursing course at a university in London.
But life in the capital can be lonely and like so many other men and women, she turned to a dating app to find a partner.
Sadly, swiping right on Tinder would be a decision that changed her life – and not in the way she planned.
Incredibly, just five days after matching with Ali Danish Syed, she became embroiled in a murder-for-hire plot that saw a father-of-two executed with a pistol at a north London cafe.
And to twist the knife in the wound, Syed remains on the run while Kukusheva now languishes behind bars.
Stanislava Kukusheva is serving five years in prison after helping Ali Danish Syed, a man she had matched with on Tinder five days prior, to dispose of a murder weapon
CCTV footage shows the moment a hooded Syed walks into a sleepy Turkish social cafe in Tottenham, north London, and holds a gun up at Talip Guzel before firing a shot
Guzel stands up in shock as he holds his gunshot wound on his lower torso before stumbling over to the table
Guzel (right) can then be seen in the harrowing footage holding himself over a table as he struggles to walk before dropping to the floor
Kukusheva’s tragic fall from grace began when she met Syed on the dating app, just five days before he walked into a Turkish social club in Tottenham and shot Talip Guzel dead in a single, fatal shot.
Remarkably, when police later recovered the pistol, Kukusheva’s DNA was found on it.
I’m Sam Greenhill, Chief Reporter, and nearly 25 years ago I had an encounter with killer Ian Huntley that still sends shivers down my spine.
Huntley is one Britain’s most notorious child murderers. But when I was invited into his home for tea and biscuits days before he was arrested for the Soham Murders, this was the last thing on my mind. I’ve written about it in The Crime Desk newsletter – sign up to read it for free.
She claimed the DNA must have been transferred to the gun by Syed after the pair had sex, but the real story, one of lust and deceit, was laid bare during her trial at the Old Bailey.
The pair had been messaging the night before the murder, just four days into matching, with Kukusheva asking Syed if he was ‘coming or not’ to a pre-arranged sex session at her home.
He didn’t attend, but just 24 hours later, turned up at her address and stayed for only 85 seconds, in which time he deposited the murder weapon, a SIG-Sauer P75 self-loading pistol.
Syed, a 29-year-old Dutch national, is believed to have been hired by Turkish gang the Tottenham Turks to kill Guzel.
The hitman has thus far avoided justice, after fleeing to Pakistan via Edinburgh, Brussels and Doha.
Kukusheva was not to know when she exchanged messages with Syed on the night of July 29 about plans to meet at her house, that in just 24 hours she would become embroiled in a dangerous contract killing.
At 10.33pm, Kukusheva messaged him: ‘Listen if u not coming tonight just let me know pls cos I don’t wanna look as a stupid to wait someone.’
Two hours later, having heard nothing, she messaged again, writing: ‘I have no words and I am so disappointed. Next time don’t lie ppl in that bad way.’
It was another 75 minutes before, at 1.46am Syed messaged: ‘Yo baby.’
He then added: ‘Something happen. Had to deal with a problem. I’m sorry it was last minute. Someone fucked around try steal money.’
Then, at 1.50am, apparently still keen for a booty call, Kukusheva wrote: ‘arr [sic] u coming or not’.
But Syed said he would meet her the following evening instead.
So just after midday on July 30, the day of the murder, Kukusheva messaged Syed saying: ‘Do u know how many things were in my head last night when someone told ne that u left u phone ..I was f****** worry about you ..I couldn’t sleep to think are u ok and what happened with you.’
At 12.35pm he calmly replied: ‘I’ll explain when I see u baby.’
But later that night, at 11.19pm, as can be seen in footage obtained by the Daily Mail, the hooded and masked hitman casually walked into the sleepy Turkish social club in Tottenham.
Within seconds, he turned to face Guzel, lifted up his pistol, and fired one, direct shot.
Guzel can be seen attempting to get up and stumbling as he holds his wound on his lower torso, before falling to the floor.
An hour later, Syed arrived at Kukusheva’s flat.
In just 85 seconds, he deposited the murder weapon and fled.
He drove through the night to Scotland, and fled the country by plane, leaving Kukusheva, a previously law-abiding citizen, to face the music.
Kukusheva, originally from Bulgaria, was a student nurse at the time her life changed course overnight. She argued in court that her DNA was found on the murder weapon because it had been transferred by Syed after they had sex together
CCTV from inside the Turkish social cafe in Tottenham captured the moment Syed, with a hooded jacket and face covered, walked into the building before carrying out the shooting
Just an hour after the shooting, Syed arrived outside Kukusheva’s flat and stayed for just 85 seconds, in which time he deposited the murder weapon and fled
The gun was eventually recovered in a car outside a house in Enfield, north London, a few weeks after the shooting.
It was found inside a balaclava which was inside one of two black plastic bin bags, which were inside a black Dolce & Gabbana drawstring bag, itself inside a white Moschino drawstring bag.
In the other black bin bag was a yellow cloth which was wrapped around the gun’s magazine, which contained seven rounds of ammunition.
Kukusheva’s DNA was later found in two places on the Dolce & Gabbana drawstring bag, on two places on the Moschino bag, and on the grip plates of the firearm.
Syed had also tricked a friend, Jan Mercan, into giving him a lift to Tottenham in a rental van.
Syed claimed he was selling a bicycle to someone. He took it out of the van and rode it to the social club – which is above a shop in White Hart Lane – where he carried out the shooting and then cycled back to the van, telling Mercan the buyer no longer wanted the bike.
When Kukusheva and Mercan went on trial, prosecutor Mukul Chawla KC told the jury: ‘It appears likely that Syed … had no direct knowledge of Guzel but that Syed was provided with the gun and instructed to shoot Guzel.’
Syed had links with the Tottenham Turks, an infamous north London gang, and the murder of Guzel is believed to be linked to the abduction, torture and murder of Koray Alpergin nine months earlier.
Guzel may have held crucial information about the killing of Alpergin – a Turkish community DJ who had a lucrative side-hustle as a drug smuggler – in the Stadium Lounge, opposite Tottenham Hotspur’s ground, in October 2022.
Alpergin suffered a total of 94 injuries, including black eyes, a fractured eye socket and bruising of his genitals and rectum.
Two of the ringleaders – Ali Yildirim and Cem Orman, from the Tottenham Turks – fled to Turkey shortly after Alpergin was killed, and they are believed to have hired the hitman to kill Guzel.
And had it not been for matching five days prior on Tinder, Kukusheva is unlikely to have become inadvertently involved in the international murder plot.
Born in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, the 36-year-old worked in a special needs school there before moving to Britain in 2019, where she initially worked picking fruit and vegetables at a farm in Herefordshire.
Kukusheva later moved to London and worked as a cleaner for a while, before working hard to become a nurse.
In 2023, she remarkably obtained an £11,000 grant to study nursing at Anglia Ruskin University’s campus in east London, and worked at North Middlesex Hospital in north London.
It was then in July of that year that Kukusheva was spending some of her off-duty hours trawling through Tinder.
This was the unfortunate moment she swiped right on Syed’s profile.
She would later say he said his name was Hamza and she thought he looked ‘Iranian, Iraqi or from a country similar to Turkey’.
In fact he is of Pakistani origin, although a Dutch national.
‘I met him on Tinder on an evening which I believe to be 25 July, 2023,’ Kukusheva told detectives later.
‘We started chatting on phone and we agreed to meet on the same evening. Our first meeting was just him driving and us talking. He was so nice with me.
‘We continued chatting on the phone and we met again around 26 or 27 July. We were at a Turkish restaurant in Wood Green.
‘After, he came home with me and we had sex. He was at my house for an hour and he left.’
The pair had sex on three occasions between July 26 and 30, 2023.
Her barrister, Archangelo Power, would seek to prove that her DNA on the weapon was as a result of her sexual encounters.
He argued that Syed must have touched the weapon after having sex with Kukusheva and touching her ‘everywhere’, thereby transferring her DNA onto the gun.
The fact that he did not have a shower, or even wash his hands, after they had sex, was therefore important.
CCTV also shows the moment Guzel drops to the floor in agony as he cries for help. It was heard in court that patrons inside the social club called 999 and provided some limited first aid
Guzel can be seen struggling in pain on the floor of the social club before emergency services attended and pronounced him dead. Syed left home and drove to Scotland before fleeing to Pakistan via Brussels and Doha
Mr Power began by asking Kukusheva if she had anything to do with the murder weapon or helped Syed in any way before or after the murder.
Kukusheva denied it and said: ‘I had no idea.’
Mr Power then asked her about having sex with Syed and said: ‘Forgive me for being indelicate but can you tell the jury exactly what happened.’
Speaking in a strong Bulgarian accent, Kukusheva told the court: ‘We had sexual intercourse for one hour. We were completely naked.’
During the trial, the student nurse was further questioned on the exact details of their sexual relationship.
When Mr Power asked: ‘Don’t be bashful. Did he touch you?’, she replied, ‘Yes,’ then adding, ‘Yes, everywhere.’
Kukusheva told the jury that he did not wear protection and that when it came to an end, he put his clothes on and left without taking a shower.
Cross-examining Kukusheva, Mr Chawla asked: ‘Apart from being passionate, you enjoyed chatting to him? He knows how to make a woman feel good. He likes to dominate?’
‘He was a good liar and manipulator,’ she replied.
Asked then if Syed was ‘clean’, Kukusheva claimed he was not.
Mr Chawla asked: ‘But didn’t that put you off having sex with him if he wasn’t very clean?’
‘Not really,’ she replied.
Mr Chawla asked if Syed was ‘hygienic’.
Again, she simply replied, ‘Not really.’
An hour after the murder a car carrying Syed arrived outside Kukusheva’s place in Compton Crescent.
Shortly after Syed left, Kukusheva began searching online for details of murders in London.
She first googled ‘Killed boy’ and then ‘Killed boy Londin [sic]’.
Mr Chawla said: ‘It follows that Syed had clearly told Kukusheva about the murder given the short amount of time between the murder, the visit to her and the searches starting.
‘As death had only been pronounced at 12.16am, it follows that Syed must also have received news of the death from someone in or around the social club.’
The Metropolitan Police did not announce details of the murder until breakfast time – 8.05am.
Giving evidence, Kukusheva claimed Syed told her one of his friends had been killed.
Mr Chawla told the jury: ‘Once it became clear that the shooting had resulted in death, it appears that Syed panicked, left the gun with Kukusheva and quickly fled the jurisdiction.’
He drove home, packed a suitcase, borrowed his father’s silver Toyota Avensis and left at 3am, heading north.
He arrived at Edinburgh airport at 10am, boarded a flight to Brussels at 3pm and flew on the following day, via Doha, to the city of Sialkot in the far north of Pakistan, close to the border with the Indian-occupied region of Kashmir.
Mr Chawla told the jury: ‘It is believed that he currently remains outside the jurisdiction of this court and explains why he is not here to stand his trial.’
While he waited for his flight to Brussels, Syed exchanged small talk with Kukusheva.
At 2.34pm he messaged her: ‘Yeah babes how are you’ and then added: ‘What u doing’
‘Working,’ she replied.
‘Nice everything okay Yh,’ Syed said, ‘I’m gonna call u in couple hours just dealing with something.’
Giving evidence, Kukusheva admitted to deleting some messages to and from Syed.
She said: ‘I did recently deleted messages between me and him from my phone as we had exchanged sexually explicit messages and pictures and I would be very embarrassed if people see this.’
On November 13, 2025, the jury – after deliberating for 36 hours and 27 minutes – finally returned verdicts.
Mercan was acquitted of the murder of Guzel, and walked free, while Kukusheva was found not guilty of perverting the course of justice and assisting an offender.
But Kukusheva was found guilty of possessing a firearm.
During sentencing last month, Mr Power said she had lost her job as a student nurse at North Middlesex Hospital in north London as a result of being charged and later convicted of the gun offence.
‘This is a lady who was training to be a nurse. She was in the business of saving lives, not taking lives,’ said Mr Power, who produced a number of character references.
Mr Power argued his client had been diagnosed with depression and had been prescribed antidepressants.
Mr Power said Syed had ‘lied’ to her throughout their brief relationship, and there was evidence he had lied to others, including his own family.
Judge Anthony Leonard KC said she was a person of ‘positive good character’ but he said the jury had rejected her claim that her DNA had got onto the gun by secondary transfer as a result of sexual activity.
He said he hoped, for the sake of the Guzel family, they would one day see the man who killed their son face trial.
Syed is believed to be still in hiding in Pakistan.
Another woman, Elif Senpalit, has been charged with possession of a firearm, and faces a trial at Wood Green Crown Court in November.
