TOI correspondent from London: Indian national Deepak Sandhu, who came to the UK on a student visa, was on Friday sent to jail for life with a minimum of 28 years for murdering a Chinese woman he met at a brothel.
It took a jury at the Old Bailey just two hours to convict Sandhu (24) of murdering Chinese national Xiaoqing Ke (39), who he met at a brothel in Southampton where he was a customer and she was working. He was also convicted of perverting the course of justice. Sandhu denied the charges. He sat in the dock with a Punjabi interpreter.
The court heard that Sandhu had a brief relationship with Xiaoqing, a single mother-of-two, during which he fabricated an identity of being a model and actor. The pair communicated using the Google Translate app.
Sandhu had entered the UK in Sep 2024. He was thrown off his IT course at Southampton Solent University and his visa was revoked six months later for poor attendance; he was actually working as a casual labourer on building sites.
After Xiaoqing discovered that Sandhu had been lying and had stolen £500 from her handbag, she ended the relationship in Aug 2025.
Sandhu pestered Xiaoqing and persuaded her to meet by promising to repay her money.
In reality he wanted revenge, the court was told.
Doorbell camera footage from Xiaoqing’s Airbnb captured him arriving with his face wrapped in a scarf and leaving after about 90 minutes. Police discovered her body the following day. A post-mortem confirmed that she died as a result of stab wounds.
Sandhu booked a one-way flight from Birmingham to Mumbai but was arrested by police travelling on a coach from Southampton to Birmingham Airport on Dec 12.