An Indian migrant who stabbed his ex-girlfriend to death in revenge for ending their relationship is facing a life sentence. Deepak Sandhu, 24, will be sentenced on Friday after being unanimously convicted by a jury of murder and perverting the course of justice.
Sandhu left Xiaoqing Ke, 39, dead in a pool of blood in an Airbnb apartment in Bayswater, west London, on December 9 last year. He came to the UK on a student visa, which was revoked nine months before the killing due to poor attendance.
Planned attack
Sandhu bought the knife at his local Asda and travelled from Southampton to the capital, where he murdered Ms Ke in a "sustained and ferocious knife attack." He then sent a voicenote to his sister in India, claiming Ms Ke had been killed by a "professional" who robbed her at gunpoint before stabbing her to death.
However, he did not call for help or report to the police, saying in the voice message: "They will say I am also involved in this, many topics will arise. A lot of problems [will] arise if they put me in prison. They will put me in prison for life. I am going to move away because if they find out, they will start the investigation."
CCTV evidence
CCTV shows Sandhu wearing a facemask and baseball cap as he entered and left Ms Ke's Airbnb bedsit - the "only lone man seen entering and leaving the building" that day. The killer, who was wearing a striped sweatshirt and brown jogging bottoms, appeared relaxed as the verdicts were announced.
Prosecutor Caroline Carberry, KC, earlier said Ms Ke ended her "brief relationship" with Sandhu "after discovering he had stolen money from her and had lied to her." She branded Sandhu as a "fantasist who made false claims to Ms Ke about his achievements and status."
Ms Carberry said: "In the days before Ms Ke was murdered, the defendant expressed his anger and determination to take revenge on her. Ms Ke's murder bears all the hallmarks of a planned attack."
Attempted escape
Text messages show Sandhu had become "increasingly erratic" in the days leading up to the killing. He asked an associate: "Do you think I have to take my revenge on her?" He also described Ms Ke as "selfish," and predicted he would "become an evil person."
Giving evidence, Sandhu admitted to jurors he had told his sister a lie, saying: "I just said that to her because I was scared. I had seen blood, and I was kind of showing off how brave I am. I just kind of made it a story, just trying to show my courage and bravery."
He also admitted to lying to Ms Ke's best friend, known only as "Cute," telling her he could not find Ke at her flat when he had already returned to Southampton. Asked why he did so, he told jurors no less than a dozen times he was "scared," because he had swiped Ms Ke's phones as he left the flat and "did not want to get in trouble."
Sandhu was later arrested on his way to Birmingham Airport with a one-way ticket to Mumbai - as footage shows he gleefully waved off his cousins and hopped onto the coach. He was found with the same blood-stained jacket he was seen wearing on CCTV and suitcases worth of Ms Ke's belongings, including her phones, clothes, and shoes.
Sandhu later told police he bought the knives on behalf of another sex worker known only as "Bailey" because she could not get her own - something Ms Carberry said was "nonsense." He admitted to jurors he was a "pathological liar," but insisted: "Killing is not something I am capable of. I did no such thing."
Sandhu, of Southampton, denied but was convicted of murder and perverting the course of justice. After his conviction, his barrister Tim Forte KC said a pre-sentence report on the killer would not reveal anything useful to the court.
