Thursday, March 28, 2024
ADVT 
International

Indian-Origin Woman Found Dead In UK Home Was Killed By Cheating 'Gay' Husband

Darpan News Desk IANS, 04 Dec, 2018 11:52 PM
    The husband of a 34-year-old Indian-origin pharmacist found dead in her home in Middlesborough, northern England, earlier this year has been found guilty of her murder on Tuesday.
     
     
    Mitesh Patel, 37, had denied killing his wife Jessica, whose body was found at their home in May.
     
     
    His murder trial at Teesside Crown Court opened last month and on Tuesday a jury found him guilty of strangling his wife to death with a supermarket plastic bag so he could start a new life with his boyfriend whom he met on the gay dating app Grindr.
     
     
    Justice James Goss told the jury a life sentence was mandatory and he would determine Patel's minimum term behind bars during a sentencing hearing on Wednesday.
     
     
    The court was told how the accused had planned to claim a GBP 2-million life insurance payout and move to Australia with lover Dr Amit Patel, described as his “soulmate”.
     
     
    The jury heard the cheating husband met other men on Grindr and had made internet searches dating back years, including "I need to kill my wife", "insulin overdose", "plot to kill my wife, do I need a co-conspirator?", "hiring hitman UK" and "how much methadone will kill you?".
     
     
    In July 2015, he told his Sydney-based lover Amit: "Her days are marked."  
     
     
    Mitesh Patel had insisted he was innocent and claimed he had returned home to find the couple's house burgled and his wife's wrists bound with duct tape.
     
     
    But prosecutors presented evidence to the jury to show it was Patel himself who had tied her up after injecting her with insulin and strangling and suffocating her with a Tesco supermarket bag.
     
     
     
     
    Jessica Patel's family made a statement at the end of the trial, saying they were "devastated" by her death.
     
     
    The statement said: "She had simple dreams, all she ever wanted was to fall in love, have a family of her own and live happily ever after. The man we welcomed into our family, who promised to look after and protect her, betrayed her in every sense of the word, cheating her of her dreams, robbing her of her life and robbing us of her."     
     
     
    The court heard that Mitesh Patel regularly chatted to men on Grindr under the pseudonym "Prince", using the gay dating app daily in front of employees at the pharmacy he ran with his wife. The jury was told that his gay double life became the pharmacy's "worst kept secret".
     
     
    At the start of the trial, Justice Goss had said that it was agreed that the accused had been unfaithful to his wife with men, having used the dating app Grindr. He had therefore ruled out any jury member who had used the same dating app or visited the Patels' pharmacy in Linthorpe since 2011 to be included for the trial to ensure impartiality.
     
     
    On Tuesday, the jury of six men and six women took three hours of deliberation to give their guilty verdict.
     
     
    Jessica Patel was found at her home on The Avenue in Linthorpe suburb of Middlesborough with “serious injuries” and pronounced dead at the scene.
     
     
    The victim, also known as Jess, ran the local chemist's shop on Roman Road in Middlesborough with her husband, whom she met while studying at university in Manchester.
     
     
    The couple's home is close to their pharmacy, which they ran for around three years. Both the home and work premises were the focus of intense police searches in the days after the murder on May 14. 

    MORE International ARTICLES

    Expelled Akali Leaders To Float New Political Outfit

    Expelled Akali Leaders To Float New Political Outfit
    During the press conference, Brahmpura, lawmaker from Khadoor Sahib, and Sekhwan said a "big announcement" would be made made by them on December 14, which is also the day when the SAD was formed in 1920.

    Expelled Akali Leaders To Float New Political Outfit

    Kamala Harris To Decide On 2020 US Presidential Bid Over Holidays

    Kamala Harris To Decide On 2020 US Presidential Bid Over Holidays
    Democrat Kamala Harris, the first Indian-American to serve in the US Senate, said she will make a decision about a potential 2020 presidential bid during the upcoming holiday season.

    Kamala Harris To Decide On 2020 US Presidential Bid Over Holidays

    Newly Discovered Cave In B.C. Park Might Be The Largest In Canada

    Newly Discovered Cave In B.C. Park Might Be The Largest In Canada
    VANCOUVER — A newly discovered cave in a remote valley in British Columbia's Wells Gray Provincial Park might just be the country's largest.

    Newly Discovered Cave In B.C. Park Might Be The Largest In Canada

    Einstein's Letter Rejecting God Set To Go On Sale

    Einstein's Letter Rejecting God Set To Go On Sale
    A handwritten letter from physicist Albert Einstein in which he explicitly rejected God and religion is set to be auctioned at Christie's auction house in New York City on Tuesday for the second time since he wrote it a year before his death.

    Einstein's Letter Rejecting God Set To Go On Sale

    Former US President George H W Bush Dies At 94

    Former US President George H W Bush Dies At 94
    George H.W. Bush, the 41st President of the US and father of the 43rd, who steered the nation through a tumultuous period in world affairs, has died at the age of 94 in Houston, his spokesperson Jim McGrath announced.

    Former US President George H W Bush Dies At 94

    UK Amends Weapons Bill To Ensure Right To Possession Of Kirpans By Sikhs

    The UK government has confirmed an amendment to a new weapons Bill going through Parliament to ensure that it would not impact the right of the British Sikh community to possess and supply kirpans, or religious swords.

    UK Amends Weapons Bill To Ensure Right To Possession Of Kirpans By Sikhs