London: A British man was today sentenced to life imprisonment for killing an Indian-origin single mother he had met on a dating website in a “drunken rage” here.
Miles Donnelly, 35, pleaded guilty Monday to the murder of 44-year-old Usha Patel, whose body was found in her flat in Cricklewood area of north-west London in October last year.
Donnelly was told by Judge Rebecca Poulet at the Old Bailey court that he would have to serve a minimum of 23 years before any parole for strangling Patel to death.
“In my assessment, this case is a stark warning to anyone who plans to meet anyone after limited internet contact,” the judge said in her ruling.
“Usha Patel invited this defendant to come into her flat. She was clearly anxious to meet a new partner. She paid for this invitation with her life. She was, in my judgment, an extremely vulnerable woman…both in her background and in the immediate moments leading to her death, when she was heavily intoxicated. Your brutal attack on this woman must have been terrifying for her,” she added.
Donnelly had initially denied charges of murder but on the day his two-week trial was to begin earlier this week, he admitted to killing the single mother.
The court heard that Donnelly, a.k.a. Miles Ryan, first came into online contact with Patel in April last year and the pair went on to meet in person before continuing to keep in touch.
The murder occurred after Patel invited him over to her home on October 7 with the understanding of having sex. They had both undressed when Donnelly attacked the mother-of-one in a drunken rage, stabbing her 16 times and punching her around the head.
Detectives investigating the murder found his set of house keys inside the flat and forensic evidence including samples from a wine glass was also matched to him.
After he killed Patel, Donnelly hid at the home of a 43-year-old woman who lived on the same street as him. He stayed there for 36 hours before attacking her with a stool as well. He was eventually arrested on October 11, 2015.
Patel, who had her five-year-old autistic son in the flat during the murder, was discovered the next day when the boy’s grandfather arrived to pick him up and was told his mother was still sleeping.
Donnelly had a lifestyle of drink and drugs and a long criminal history.
(Sourced from agencies, Feature image courtesy:thenewageparents.com)
