Pharmacist guilty of wife’s murder
Apharmacist who plotted for years to kill his wife so he could start a new life in Australia with his boyfriend and a £2m life insurance payout has been convicted of her murder.
Mitesh Patel, 37, injected his wife Jessica with insulin and strangled her with a supermarket bag-for-life at their Middlesbrough home, then staged a break-in to make it look like an intruder had attacked her.
The couple ran a successful pharmacy together but their marriage was unhappy, with the husband repeatedly seeking sex with men he met on gay dating app Grindr.
And he was secretly in a relationship with his “soulmate” Dr Amit Patel, who had emigrated to Sydney and with whom he hoped to bring up his and Jessica’s IVF baby after her death.
The husband was convicted of her murder at Teesside Crown Court after the jury heard Patel 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?”.
Mr Justice Goss told the jury a life sentence was mandatory. He was due to determine the minimum term Patel must serve behind bars this morning.
Before sentencing, he will hear victim statements from Jessica’s grandmother, father and a joint one by her siblings and cousins.
The jury unanimously found Patel guilty after deliberating for around three hours on the 12th day of the trial.
After the murder, police discovered syringes prepared with insulin in Patel’s laptop bag, one of which was empty.
Cleveland Police suspected he injected his wife to subdue her when she came home from work on May 14, then strangled her with the bag.
As she fought for her life, she scratched his neck. He tried to blame the injury on an accident when he was working out at the gym that day.
Nicholas Campbell QC, prosecuting, said: “From various life insurance policies Mitesh Patel stood to profit from his wife’s death to the tune of £2m.
“He was planning to use that money to start a new life in Australia shared with the person he really loved ... another man named Dr Amit Patel.”