'Cold and calculating' curry poisoner is jailed for life

Curry poisoner Lakhvir Singh showed no emotion when she was jailed for at least 23 years and told she was a "cold and calculating" woman who had sought revenge.

Jailing her for life at the Old Bailey yesterday, Judge Paul Worsley told the married mother of three she would be approaching 70 before she could be considered for parole.

The 45-year-old, of Southall, west London, was found guilty on Wednesday of murdering her lover, Lakhvinder “Lucky” Cheema, 39, when he decided to marry a younger woman.

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She slipped into his home in Feltham, Middlesex – used as a love nest during their 16-year secret affair – and sprinkled poison into curry in the fridge.

Mr Cheema and his fiancee Gurjeet Choongh, 21, later ate the meal while discussing plans for their wedding due two weeks later on St Valentine’s Day last year. Within hours, Mr Cheema died in agony and Miss Choongh was fighting for her life.

Miss Choongh survived and was in the public gallery to see Singh, whose husband is ill with cancer, led from the court.

Singh was also convicted of causing grievous bodily harm to Miss Choongh but cleared of attempted murder and administering poison to Mr Cheema in December 2008.

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She is thought to have brought deadly aconite from India in order to make Mr Cheema so ill that he returned to her.

Sir Desmond de Silva, defending, said: “Mrs Singh will pay for a lifetime of having to live with the fact that, by killing the one she loved, she has almost extinguished the very reason for her own existence – the burning love she had for the deceased.”

Judge Worsley told Singh: “You were not just a spurned lover, you did not simply explode in anger at your rejection. You set about a cold and calculating revenge.

“You have shown no remorse whatsoever. Your actions came as close as may be to claiming the lives of two people on the verge of a new life together.”

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Earlier, Miss Choongh told the court in a victim impact statement: “I still do not feel fully recovered and I believe it will affect me for the rest of my life.

“For several months the doctors were not sure whether or not it would have a long-term effect on my internal organs. This gave me a lot of tension and I am still under a lot of stress.”

Miss Choongh was sometimes feet away from Singh in court but the two women did not exchange glances other than frosty stares when the other was not looking.

Mr Cheema’s sister, Narinder Singh, said: “Lakhvinder was a friend to everyone.”

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