Pharmacist who murdered his Leeds wife to be sentenced

Mitesh Patel, 37, had plotted for years to kill his wife Jessica, 34, so he could be with his true love and “soulmate” Dr Amit Patel in Sydney, and carried out his plan at the marital home in Middlesbrough.

He was convicted of her murder following a 12-day trial at Teesside Crown Court and will be jailed for life.

In what was said to be a legal first in the UK, evidence from the health app on his iPhone was used to show his movements on the night of the murder with him frantically moving around their home trying to make it look like they had been burgled.

In fact it was Mitesh Patel himself who carried out the murder in May, first subduing her by injecting her with insulin, then strangling her with a Tesco bag for life and going out to buy a pizza to create a false alibi before coming home to raise the alarm.

At the sentencing hearing, victim statements from her grandmother, father and a joint one prepared by her sisters and cousins will be read out.

In a statement released through Cleveland Police, they said: “The man we welcomed into our family, who promised to look after and protect her, betrayed her in every sense of the word, cheating her of her dreams, robbing her of her life and robbing us of her.

“No one in this world has the right to take someone else’s life.

“Although even a maximum life sentence is not punishment enough, we are relieved at the outcome of the trial and this will help to bring us a little peace.”

The couple, from West Yorkshire, owned and ran a successful pharmacy in Middlesbrough but their marriage was unhappy.

He was regularly unfaithful with men he met on the Grindr dating app and he once told Dr Patel he married Jessica because she was in love with him and it would be a good cover of his true sexuality.

Mrs Patel underwent three courses of IVF and the last course resulted in three embryos being created, but she was murdered before they could be implanted.

Patel denied murder, claiming an intruder must have done it but his original alibi that he had gone for a walk the night he killed her was proved to be false, and the prosecution portrayed him as a serial liar and fantasist.

Mr Justice Goss warned Patel he will be not be freed “for many years to come”.