Failed student jailed for 28 years for murder

A failed student is starting a 28-year prison sentence after a court heard how he murdered a sex worker in a "sustained and brutal" knife attack.

Deepak Sandhu, 24, who studied a Southampton Solent University, met 39-year-old Xiaoqing Ke in 2025 when she was working in a brothel in the city.

At the trial at the Old Bailey, Judge Philip Katz sentenced him after hearing how he had murdered the mother of two in her flat in West London on 9 December.

The court had heard from prosecutors how the pair had formed a "relationship of sorts" but it disintegrated after Sandhu, of Newlands Road, stole money from her.

Prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC said Ke's murder had involved Sandhu in a "significant degree of planning and premeditation" with him buying knives a few days prior to his trip from Southampton to London where Ke had rented an Airbnb.

The court heard how the killing had been "the culmination of a campaign of emotional manipulation" which had involved the former student stealing from Ke, exerting financial control, taking her mobile phone and on one occasion her passport.

Their relationship had involved "manipulative language and lies," the KC said.

By the time of her death, she added, Ke had wanted nothing further to do with him and "the court can be sure this was a significant motivating factor in the murder."

The KC claimed she would have been "at least fleetingly aware that she was about to die".

"More injuries than were necessary to cause death were inflicted on her".

Katz had heard that Sandhu, an Indian national, then tried to flee the country, removing her phones from the flat and destroying his SIM card the next day.

He bought a plane ticket to Mumbai but was arrested on a National Express coach on his way to Birmingham Airport.

The court was told that Ke, a Chinese national, was a mother of two teenage children, and while they could not travel to the UK to see Sandhu's trial, her parents and family had been in close touch with police.

They had watched on a video link as she was cremated, and the KC said her ashes would be returned to them after the sentencing.

In mitigation Tim Forte KC said Sandhu's actions had been out of character, and the defence did not accept that he had exerted coercive control over her.

While some of the lies he had told her about a career in modelling and acting were "transparently ludicrous…we can't get away from the 38 wounds, and I won't try".

Shikha Varma, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said they remained "committed to ensuring perpetrators like Sandhu, who commit such horrific violence against women and girls, are robustly prosecuted and face the full force of the law".

"Our thoughts remain with Ms Ke's family and friends at this incredibly difficult time."

Det Ch Insp Wayne Jolley of Metropolitan Police said the victim's family "have been through an unimaginably painful time, and our thoughts remain with them".

"Our team uncovered vital evidence which showed Sandhu had become fixated on Xiaoqing and had subjected her to a tirade of controlling and abusive messages before ultimately deciding to end her life," he said, adding that tackling violence against women and girls "remains one of our key priorities".