Baker Street Killer: Man sentenced to life in prison for wild crime 30 years ago

The gunman who stabbed a woman to death outside Sherlock Holmes’s London home has been sentenced to life imprisonment. Sandeep Patel, 51, stabbed Marina Koppel, 39, more than 140 times in her rented apartment on August 8, 1994. The killer remained unpunished until a DNA test of a hair from the murder scene was done in 2022.

Sandeep Patel was found guilty of murdering Marina Koppel by stabbing her at least 140 times in her apartment in 1994, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. The Metropolitan Police said innovative work by its forensic team to examine hairs found on a ring worn by the victim had finally brought the killer to justice after all these years. The then 21-year-old student’s fingerprints were also found on a carrier bag in the victim’s kitchen, but he was not considered a suspect at the time.

“Forensic techniques and technology are constantly evolving and police will continue to look at serious unsolved cases and pursue new opportunities to both bring the guilty to justice and exonerate the innocent. This includes cases directly related to violence against women,” said operational forensic scientist Dan Chester.

Marina, who was 39 at the time of her death, lived and worked in the flat during the week and spent weekends with her husband in Northampton. She was a masseuse and occasional sex worker. She was described as a loving mother and worked hard to send money home to Colombia to the two children her family cared for there.

On August 8, 1994, Marina’s husband became worried when he couldn’t reach her by phone, so he went to London to make sure his wife was okay. When he arrived at the apartment, he found the woman unconscious and covered in blood.

During the search, they also found a plastic shopping bag that had Patel’s fingerprints on it. However, the suspect, who was 21 at the time, had been helping his father at the Sherlock Holmes News newsagent on Baker Street where the bag was taken, so the presence of his fingerprints was not considered significant evidence and the case remained unsolved for many years , reported the police in the British capital. In 2008, other items were examined, including a ring to which a hair was attached. However, it was not until 2022 that new techniques made it possible to obtain a DNA profile from the hair on the ring.

It was at this stage that the hair was linked to Patel, whose DNA is now in the database after he was charged with actual bodily harm in 2012.

London police said forensic detectives took over the case and continued to collect evidence. Patel was arrested on January 19, 2023 on suspicion of Marina’s murder. Fingerprint experts then also matched his prints to several bloody barefoot prints that were found at the crime scene.

This, along with DNA on the hair, fingerprints on the plastic bag and the fact that Marina’s bank card, stolen from her apartment at the time, was used at an ATM just a kilometer from Patel’s house shortly after the murder. enough to convince the jury of his guilt.

“We are so glad that Marina’s killer has finally been brought to justice. “It is extremely sad that her husband did not live to see this day,” admitted the head of the specialized crime investigation team, Catherine Goodwin. “Even though Patel was convicted of the brutal murder of Marina, we may never know the reasons for his actions that day. Unsolved murder cases are never closed and it is thanks to the advancement of forensic techniques that we were able to identify the suspect in this barbaric crime.”

Patel, 51, denied murder but refused to testify in his own defence. He also did not appear in court for the verdict, but sobs were heard in the public gallery after it was handed down.

The judge added at the end of the hearing: “The horror and pain you have caused Mrs Koppel is difficult to imagine. You deprived her of many more years of life. No sentence I impose will compensate Mrs. Koppel’s family for their loss.”

Ms Koppel’s son Javier Rios told the court it was “not easy for him to relive the saddest moment of my life after 29 years”, adding that “Mom still had a long life to live, this was her time, and it really hurts – it breaks me soul.”

The victim’s sister-in-law and brother-in-law described her as “an extremely bright, highly intelligent and charismatic person who saw the good in her family and in everyone she met”, adding that she was “much loved by everyone”.

Martin Koppel added that his brother suffered a “rapid decline in health” following the murder, adding: “The day Marina was killed, I lost my brother.” The victim’s husband died in 2005 without ever knowing who killed his wife.