An Indian-origin pharmacist in the UK who strangled his wife and staged it as a burglary attack has been found guilty of murder.
Over the , Teesside Crown Court heard 37-year-old Mitesh Patel had married 34-year-old Jessica Patel in 2009.
The couple met while studying pharmacy together in Manchester. After their marriage, they lived in the British city of Middlesborough and ran a pharmacy together.
When Jessica was found dead in their home in May this year, Mitesh claimed he had returned home to find the house burgled and his wife’s wrists were bound with duct tape.
During the trial, prosecutors claimed Mitesh had tied her up and strangled her with a plastic bag to suffocate her.
Nicholas Campbell QC told the court: "The prosecution case was that a plastic shopping bag, ironically a Tesco Bag For Life, was used both as a ligature and to suffocate her."
Source: Teesside Live
The court heard Patel was secretly in a relationship with a doctor in Sydney and with whom he hoped to raise his and Jessica's IVF baby after her death.
The jury also heard Patel had made internet searches including for ways to kill his wife and had often used a gay dating app – Grindr to chat with other men.
The Prosecutor told the Court, Patel also stood to profit from his wife's insurance policies which were worth £2 million.
"App nailed his movements"
Detectives used Patel's iPhone health app to help convict him, in what is thought to be a legal first in the UK.
Critical data from the app which monitors movements showed his movements inside the house, going upstairs to ransack the rooms to stage a burglary after he had strangled his wife.
Meanwhile, the app on his wife’s phone showed no movement for a long time.
The jury unanimously found Patel guilty.
Source: Pixabay
Justice James Goss QC him: "You will be sentenced, as you will have been advised, to a sentence of life imprisonment.
"I’ll also fix the minimum term that you will have to serve before you can be considered for release in many years to come."
Mitesh Patel will be sentenced on Wednesday.
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