A court recently heard about a pharmacist who allegedly fatally suffocated his wife with a Tesco bag in a bid to claim a £2 m insurance payout and move to Australia with his boyfriend. Mitesh Patel, 37, co-owner of a pharmacy business, ran it with Jessica, 34. Jurors at Teesside Crown Court heard how Patel cheated on his wife with men he met through dating app Grindr. Prosecuting Nicholas Campbell QC said the defendant claimed he returned home to find the couple's house burgled and his wife's wrists bound with duct tape.
Campbell however said the intruder story was a “lie” and Patel had applied the tape after killing her. He left the house on the The Avenue, Linthorpe, to create a false alibi and tried to stage-manage the murder scene by ransacking the home. Campbell said, “Jessica Patel had been killed as a result of pressure being brought to bear on her neck. She was strangled. The prosecution case was that a plastic shopping bag, ironically a Tesco Bag For Life, was used both as as a ligature and to suffocate her.
On returning, Patel attempted to hide a hard drive from a CCTV system in a suitcase under a mattress before calling 999, the court heard. He was found to have three scratches on his neck on the night his wife was killed. Campbell informed that Patel had three scratches on his neck the night his wife was killed. Patel had “ample” motive for the killing as there were various life insurance policies in his wife's name worth £2 m. “He was planning to use the money to start a new life in Australia and that life would be shared with the person who he really loved, one who he regarded as his soulmate- another man.”
