Antiques dealer admits strangling his daughter

A WEALTHY antiques dealer who strangled his seven-year-old daughter has admitted murder midway through his trial.

Robert Peters, 56, throttled Sophia with a dressing-gown cord while alone with her at his £1m family home in Wimbledon last November.

Afterwards, he called 999 to report what he had done and the child was rushed to hospital, but died the following day.

The killing came just over a month after depressed and suicidal Peters was found not to be a risk by a child protection team.

Peters had admitted manslaughter but denied murder, claiming he was hearing voices at the time. But three days into his Old Bailey trial, he changed his plea, watched by Sophia’s mother Krittiya – his third wife – and other family members.

Peters had recently ended a twoand-a-half-year affair with a married Home Office official he met online.

Mrs Peters had caught him on the phone with the woman but “forgave” him and he moved back home, the court heard.

He was also worrying about his finances and claimed his Kensington-based oriental antiques business was going bankrupt, even though he had a Jaguar car and plenty of money in the bank.

In the months before the killing, Peters searched the internet for “serial killers”, “treatment of child killers in prison” and “premeditated murder”.

He chose his opportunity to kill her before she was due to return to her £5,000-a-term boarding school after the half-term break.

Mr Justice Edis remanded Peters into custody to be sentenced on Monday.