Pharmacist kills wife so he can start a new life with boyfriend

37 year old Mitesh Patel, strangled his wife Jessica, 34, to death at their Middlesbrough home on the evening of 14 May. He then staged a burglary, ransacked his own home to make it look like an intruder had killed his wife.
Afterwards, he 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 make it look like he had no idea she was dead.

Later, Patel returned home and called 999. In his 999 call, Patel pretended to cry while saying: “come on baby, wake up”.

But evidence from his own CCTV, internet searches and a health and fitness app on his phone exposed him.



He was sentenced to a minimum of 30 years at Teesside Crown Court.

Patel had been cheating on his wife with other men he met on Grindr and other gay dating apps. He was dating a doctor named Amit Patel who live in Sydney and planned to emigrate to Australia to be with the man who he referred to as his “soulmate”.

Patel 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 heartbroken family read out three statements about the victim before Mr Justice Goss delivered the sentence on Wednesday.