Gay pharmacist who murdered Leeds wife with Tesco Bag For Life handed 30 year jail term

Pharmacist Mitesh Patel has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 30 years

Patel murdered his wife with a Tesco Bag For Life before plotting to run away to Australia with his boyfriend using a £2million life insurance payout.Mr Justice Goss told Patel: "You have no remorse for your actions.

"Any pity you have is for yourself."

The judge said Patel had made a series of fundamental errors in his plan to kill his wife, including a botched attempt to hide his house's CCTV hard drive and leaving the duct tape he used to bind her body at their pharmacy.

He told Patel: "As the police investigation progressed, the full extent of your attitude and behaviour towards Jessica over the nine years of your marriage was revealed.

"She clearly loved you and was a dutiful wife.

"She wanted nothing more than to have children and live a normal family life.

"The difficulty is that you had no sexual attraction to her; you were attracted to men."

Mrs Patel was to some extent aware of her husband's sexuality, the judge said.

"She was lonely, often upset and controlled by you," he told Patel.

-> The worst anti social behaviour hotspots in Leeds"With hindsight, it is apparent this was for your own selfish reasons and not with any intention of making her happy.

"The evidence of witnesses as to your behaviour towards Jessica and the vast amount of data of your messaging conversations reveals you were needy and callous, using her whilst indulging your own desires and whims."

Mr Justice Goss said Patel, who was "business-driven" and wanted to retire at 40, committed murder "in the expectation of gain as a result of her death".

The judge said the starting point for such a crime was a minimum jail term of 30 years but it was not a plot carried out with such a degree of premeditation.

He said: "Had there been such planning, the offence would have been carried out with much more care and sophistication."

Addressing Mrs Patel's family, he said: "I would like to end this case by expressing the condolences of the court on the very sad loss of someone who was very clearly a kind and decent person."