Killer husband: Mitesh Patel [left] injected his wife Jessica [right], with insulin and strangled her with a plastic bag on May 14
A British pharmacist who suffocated wife using a plastic shopping bag to run off with gay Grindr lover and $2.54million [£2m] life insurance payout caught after iPhone health app caught him staging the murder as a home invasion.
Mitesh Patel, 37, strangled Jessica, 34, at their home in Linthorpe, Middlesbrough, in May and then staged a break-in.
The heartless husband was convicted of strangling his wife to death in May to begin a new life in Australia with the gay lover her met on dating app Grindr.
Jurors needed less than three hours to find Mitesh Patel guilty of the premeditated murder of his wife, Jessica, with a plastic bag after spending five years planning her killing.
Court testimony revealed Jessica had been aware that her husband had been cruising the social phone app Grindr in search of casual sex with men.
Mitesh Patel, after strangling his wife staged the scene inside their Middlesbrough home to look like a home invasion robbery gone bad
The Patel’s home had been staged to look like a break-in
During the three-week trial, shocking evidence was presented that Patel subdued his wife with a shot of insulin before strangling her at their home in Linthorpe, northern England. Forensics showed he had carried out online research about strangulation and the effects of insulin.
He then staged a robbery at their home, ransacking the rooms to make it appear as if Jessica had interrupted a burglar.
“No! Jess! Come on, baby, wake up! Mitesh Patel can be heard telling an emergency worker on May 14.
British pharmacist Mitesh Patel [photo], was convicted of the murder of his wife at Teesside Crown Court, UK on Tuesday
Victim: Jessica Patel , 34, and her husband met in college and both worked at their pharmacy in Middlesbrough, UK
The couple ran a successful pharmacy together but their marriage was unhappy, with the husband repeatedly seeking sex with men he met on the Grindr dating app.
And he was secretly in a relationship with his “soulmate” Dr Amit Patel, who had emigrated to Sydney and with whom he hoped to bring up his and Jessica’s IVF baby after her death.
The husband was convicted of her murder after data from his iPhone health app showed how he had frantically climbed up and down stairs while staging the break-in.
CCTV footage from outside the couple’s home also showed Jessica entering the property for the final time and no-one else coming or going until the body was discovered.
Mitesh Patel killed his wife because he was planning to start a new family with his gay lover Dr Amit Patel [photo], who had emigrated to Sydney, Australia
Patel’s deception was uncovered after cops examined his and his wife’s phones on that day.
Prosecutors claim his motivation was to flee his stringent Hindu upbringing and start anew with Amit Patel.
“I should have been honest with myself and I should not have married Jess,” testified Patel during his trial. “I cannot explain how I felt. It was the fear of being exposed as an Asian gay man, that was one thing and the other was that I was not going to let Jess down. I had married Jess and all her dreams were going to come to a crashing end.”
Family members were at a loss to make sense of her death.
“(Jessica) had simple dreams,” read a family statement. “All she ever wanted was to fall in love, have a family of her own and live happily ever after.”
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