1994 murder solved with a bloody footprint clue

A 30-year-old murder near the fictional home of Sherlock Holmes has been solved after the killer was snared with a bloody footprint.

Sandip Patel, who ran errands for his father's newsagent Sherlock Holmes News on Baker Street in London, stabbed Marina Koppel more than 140 times in her rented flat in nearby Chiltern Street on August 8 1994.

The 21-year-old student's finger marks were found on a carrier bag in Mrs Koppel's kitchen but he was not treated as a suspect at the time.

He was charged with her murder last year after his DNA was matched to hair on the victim's ring and he was linked by a bloody footprint on a skirting board.

During the attack, he had extracted Mrs Koppel's bank card pin and used the number to withdraw money near his home, it was alleged.

Patel, now 51, had denied murder but declined to give evidence in his defence and the jury at the Old Bailey found him guilty.

Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC said little was known of Mrs Koppel's last movements.

The mother-of-two's last known sighting was a visit to the Midland Bank on Baker Street at 1.42pm the following day.

That evening, her husband David Koppel returned to her flat near Baker Street Tube station to find she had been murdered.

Mr Emlyn Jones said she had been stabbed more than 140 times during the "sustained and savage" attack.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective Sherlock Holmes lived at 221B Baker Street.

Patel, of Finchley Road, north London, looked up at the public gallery as the verdict was delivered.

He was remanded into custody to be sentenced at the Old Bailey today.