Man Jailed for life After he Murdered Wife to Start a Newlife in Australia with Boyfriend

A pharmacist has been jailed for life after he murdered his wife to claim $2 million in life insurance in order to start a new life in Australia with his boyfriend .

Mitesh Patel, 37, was sentenced to a minimum of 30 years at Teesside Crown Court for the murder of his wife Jessica at their Middlesbrough home. Patel staged a burglary and claimed an intruder had been the true killer, but evidence from his own CCTV, internet searches and a health and fitness app on his phone exposed him.

Patel had cheated on his wife with other men he met on Grindr and other gay dating apps and planned to emigrate to Australia to be with his ‘soulmate’ Amit Patel.

Petal's boyfriend

He strangled Jessica to death after searching ‘I want to kill my wife’ online and watching videos on strangulation. A jury convicted him of murder after four hours of deliberations on Tuesday. Jessica’s family read out three statements about the ‘loyal and devoted daughter and sister’, before Mr Justice Goss delivered the sentence on Wednesday.

One of the family’s statements addressed Patel directly and said: ‘While she rests in heaven, you will rot in hell.’ The public gallery at the court was so packed that members of the press were moved into the jury benches. Patel strangled his 34-year-old wife to death in their Middlesbrough home on the evening of 14 May. 

Petal caught on camera

Then he ransacked his own home in a staged burglary, binding his wife’s wrists and ankles with duct tape. Prosecutors said he then headed to the pharmacy he and his wife owned on Roman Road to set up an alibi.

He then texted his wife’s phone about food, and ordered pizza to create the illusion of an ordinary evening.

In his 999 call, Patel pretended to cry and begged ‘come on baby, wake up’. The court heard that Patel stood to make £2 million from Jessica’s life insurance policy.


Jessica’s family previously said in a statement: ‘The one thing we hope and prayed for above anything else was that in her final moments she did not suffer. ‘The cruel reality is that she did in fact suffer, she knew exactly who her killer was, and he mercilessly ignored her attempts to fight for her own life as he ended it. 

‘We can only imagine the fear and panic she must have felt knowing herself this was it. Thinking of that moment makes our hearts so heavy.’ Jessica underwent three courses of IVF and the last cycle resulted in three embryos being created, but she was murdered before they could be implanted.

Mr Justice Goss previously warned Patel he would not be free ‘for many years to come’.