London: A British man was on Thursday 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.
