A married pharmacist was strangled to death by her husband who wanted to start a new life in Australia with his gay lover, a review into her death found.Jessica Patel, 34, was strangled by her husband Mitesh, 37, at their Middlesbrough home in May 2018 in a premeditated attack. The man then planned to move to Australia to live with his gay boyfriend.It was revealed Patel, who was also a pharmacist, spent five years planning to kill his wife so he could use her frozen embryos to have a family with his lover he met on gay dating app, Grindr.
Investigators also found out that he had also planned to claim a £2million life insurance payout and tried to cover his tracks by staging a break-in and claiming an intruder murdered his wife.
His dirty plans were exposed by a health app on his iPhone that recorded his frantic act as he raced around the house after her death.Mr. Mitesh was jailed for life with a minimum term of 30 years after a jury took just two hours and 50 minutes to convict him of murder.A 74-page domestic homicide review into Jessica’s death called for the murder to be classed as an “honour killing”.Jessica’s heartbroken family paid tribute to her in the report, stating: “Heaven has gained an angel but the world is at a loss for it.
“Jessica was a rarity: she was beautiful on the outside, and even more so on the inside.”She had a truly selfless soul and afforded everyone she met with a kindness and generosity that was second to none.”As the firstborn in our family, she brought an immense amount of joy.”She had this lovable smile which encapsulated her gentle nature and innocence, and would make our house feel like a home.She had her whole life ahead of her, a life in which she simply wished for true love, a family of her own and to live happily ever after.
