Indian-origin solicitor murdered for insurance in Britain

LONDON - An Indian-origin solicitor was murdered in Britain by a hitman who was hired by her business partner in a plan to claim a 1.5 million pound insurance payout, a court was told.

Vina Patel, 51, died of asphyxiation and a broken neck in a contract killing allegedly arranged by John Cort, her colleague who had thousands of pounds of debts after purchasing three homes and eating meals at celebrity haunts following an expensive divorce, Daily Mail reported.

Cort had ‘put around’ rumours that he was very sick in the weeks before the murder. That had led him and Patel, who were the only partners in their firm, to hike the business insurance cover taken out on her life from 500,000 pounds to 1.5 million pounds.

Cort then allegedly hired 37-year-old Brian Farrell to kill Patel and make it look like an accident, Nottingham Crown Court was told.

Cort and Farrell have denied the murder.

Patel’s husband, Surendra, and daughter, Anisha, found her with a broken neck at the bottom of a flight of stairs in her Leicester office Jan 15 last year.

The media report said that there were signs she had been suffocated and she had then fallen or been pushed down the stairs, or attacked and her body arranged to look like it was an accident, it was alleged.

“The motive for this killing, or part of the motive, was to try to get the insurance monies that he hoped would be paid in the event of her death. It was a murky, financial motive. He lived a life he simply could not afford. There were expensive hotels, restaurants, and the company of women he had to pay to keep.

“For a substantial period of time, John Cort’s financial affairs had been out of control and by January of last year he was out of control,” Timothy Spencer, prosecutor, was quoted as telling the jury.

Spencer said that on the day she was killed, Patel had an appointment with a former England rugby player. He was the last person to see her alive.

An appointment with someone called Khan was added to her diary in a ploy to keep Patel in the office after hours so Farrell could strike, he said.