Husband spent years planning his wife’s murder so he could move to Sydney to be with his gay lover, report finds
Jessica Patel (L), who was murdered by her husband Mitesh Patel (R) (Cleveland Police)
A man spent five years planning his wife’s murder so he could flee to Australia to start a family with a male lover he met on Grindr, according to a new report.
Mitesh Patel strangled his wife Jessica Patel to death at their home in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, in May 2018.
He was found guilty of murder by a jury at Teeside Crown Court later that year after less than three hours of deliberations. The judge sentenced him to a minimum of 30 years in prison.
A new 74-page domestic homicide review into Jessica’s horrific murder has called for her death to be seen as an “honour killing” because her husband may have seen murder as the only “honourable” way out of his marriage, according to Teeside Live.
The wide-ranging report found that Mitesh planned Jessica’s murder over the course of five years and intended to use her frozen embryos to start a family with his Grindr boyfriend in Australia.
After he strangled his 34-year-old wife to death, he arranged the scene to look like a break-in and told police an intruder had murdered his wife.
He expected to get away with the murder and thought he would win a £2 million life insurance payout. He planned to use this money to relocate to Australia with his male lover.
Mitesh Patel subjected his wife Jessica to years of domestic abuse before killing her, a new report has found.
Mitesh, who ran a pharmacy with his wife, subjected her to years of cruel domestic abuse, the new report has found.
Her family said he had engaged in “controlling and coercive” behaviour over the course of their nine year marriage before he killed Jessica.
Jessica Patel told her young sister that her husband “hit her in the car” and had tried to stop her from seeing her dying grandfather.
Her family said she “stopped speaking up about things” and “appeared scared” when asked to attend family events.
Mitesh would shout at his wife in front of customers in the pharmacy they ran together and once injured her leg when he threw a phone at her.
Jessica’s family also said he insisted the couple move from Halifax in West Yorkshire to Middlesbrough in an effort to distance her from her family.
She deserved to have a wonderful life, but these wishes will now remain unfulfilled.
They said Mitesh was a “compulsive liar” and once told customers at their pharmacy that she was pregnant with twins – an untrue claim that he believed was “funny”.
This “joke” was made all the worse by the fact that she was going through fertility treatment in an effort to conceive – while Mitesh was secretly taking drugs to stifle his sperm count.
Jessica had also told her family that Mitesh would go into a separate room when he came home from work and would talk to a man for hours every night.
She found out that he had exchanged text messages with his male lover in 2012 in which they declared their love for each other. She confronted him, but her family said he manipulated the situation to paint himself as a victim.
Co-workers later said Jessica had told them she suspected Mitesh could be gay.
Jessica was a ‘truly selfless soul’ and brought ‘an immense amount of joy’ to her family’s lives.
Jessica’s family said in the report that “the world is at a loss” since her death, but said heaven had gained an angel.
“Jessica was a rarity: she was beautiful on the outside, and even more so on the inside,” they said.
“She had a truly selfless soul and afforded everyone she met with a kindness and generosity that was second to none.
“As the first born in our family, she brought an immense amount of joy.”
They said Jessica had a “gentle nature and innocence” and made their 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.
“She deserved to have a wonderful life, but these wishes will now remain unfulfilled.
“We are extremely blessed to have had Jessica in our lives.”
