The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Fife man accused of killing 97-year-old
KINGLASSIE: Sandeep Patel denies murder and fraud
A Fife man appeared at the High Court in Glasgow yesterday charged with the brutal murder of a 97-year-old woman in her own home.
Sandeep Patel, 37, from Cardenden, denied killing pensioner Annie Temple at an address in West End, Kinglassie, on October 25 last year by repeatedly inflicting blunt force trauma on her head and body, obstructing and constricting her airways and asphyxiating her.
Patel is also accused of stealing money totalling up to £1,000 from Ms Temple on two occasions in April 2019, and committing fraud by completing and signing cheques in her name – with him as the beneficiary – on various occasions between October 3 and October 23.
Ms Temple’s body was discovered at her bungalow on October 25 after concerns had been raised for her welfare.
Patel is expected to stand trial at the High Court in Edinburgh in September.
A Fife man has appeared at the High Court in Glasgow charged with murdering a 97-year-old woman in her own home.
Sandeep Patel, 37, from Cardenden, stands accused of killing pensioner Annie Temple at an address in West End, Kinglassie, on October 25.
The charge alleges he repeatedly inflicted blunt force trauma on her head and body, obstructed and constricted her airways and asyphyxiated her, all by means unknown to the Crown.
Patel is also accused of fraud and stealing money from Ms Temple.
One charge alleges he stole sums of money totalling £1,000 or thereby from Ms Temple on two occasions between April 1 and 30.
Another alleges, on various occasions between October 3 and 23, at Royal Bank of Scotland branches in Rosslyn Street, Kirkcaldy, and East Port, Dunfermline, and at the Nationwide Building Society in Kirkcaldy High Street, he completed and signed cheques in the name of Annie Jane Temple, with him as the beneficiary, without her knowledge or consent to a total value of £2,750.
He is accused of presenting the cheques at the banks and building society and attempting to obtain £2,750 by fraud, and obtaining £1,500 by fraud.
A fourth charge also alleges Patel uttered as genuine at the RBS branch in Cardenden on July 19, a cheque on behalf of Western Toyota for £5 which he had altered by adding the word ‘hundred’ after the word five and two ‘00’s after the figure five to make it read as a cheque for £500, and deposited the altered cheque for payment there.
Patel made a brief appearance before Lady Johnston, during which his legal representative Brian McConnachie QC tendered not guilty pleas in respect of the murder and theft charges.
The case will now go forward to a 10-to-12-day trial in Edinburgh in September.
Ms Temple was found dead at her home in the village’s West End by police officers on October 25 after concerns had been raised for her welfare.
Known locally as Nan, she was believed to have been Kinglassie’s oldest resident and news of her passing shocked the close-knit community.
The village became the focus of intense police activity in the days that followed and detectives conducted doorto-door inquiries as the probe into what happened got under way.
Initially, police said they were treating Ms Temple’s death as “unexplained” but the presence of police outside the pensioner’s bungalow for weeks after her body had been discovered heightened speculation.
A post-mortem examination was conducted and Patel was subsequently arrested on suspicion of murder.
The actions of police officers prior to Ms Temple’s death is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) after the matter was referred to the police watchdog by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS).
A report is expected to be submitted to them in due course.