An Indian migrant who murdered a woman at an Airbnb after she rejected him has been jailed.
asserted
she → murder → him
Deepak Sandhu had come to the UK on a student visa the UK in September 2024 which was revoked six months later after he dropped out of a university in Southampton.
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he → come → Southampton
Despite losing his sponsorship, Sandhu remained in Britain and he carried out the crime nine months after his visa was revoked.
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visa → lose → crime
The Old Bailey heard that the 24-year-old, who claimed to be a model and an actor, bought knives before he travelled to Earl's Court in west London and stabbed sex worker Xiaoqing Ke to death.
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he → hear → death
Today, Sandhu has been handed a life sentence after he was found guilty of murdering Ms Ke.
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he → hand → Ke
Ms Ke, 39, was found face down on the bedroom floor of the bedsit on December 10 last year having suffered catastrophic injuries including a fatal deep stab wound to the neck.
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face → find → neck
The couple had met in March 2025 while Ms Ke was working in a brothel in Southampton and they soon struck up a secret relationship chatting via a translation app.
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they → meet → app
At the time, Punjabi-speaking Sandhu was a customer of Mandarin-speaking Ms Ke, the court heard.
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court → speak → Ke
Pictured: Indian migrant Deepak Sandhu who has been found guilty of murdering sex worker Xiaoqing Ke after she rejected him
Pictured: Xiaoqing Ke who Sandhu stabbed to death in December last year.
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Sandhu → picture → December
The couple had met in March 2025, while Ms Ke was working in a brothel in Southampton, and they soon struck up a secret relationship chatting via a translation app
They remained in contact after she moved to London until Ms Ke discovered he had stolen £500 from her handbag and spun a web of lies and deceit.
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he → meet → lies
Prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC described Sandhu as a 'fantasist' who became an 'obsessed, manipulative young man' who could not accept Ms Ke's rejection.
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who → describe → rejection
Sandhu had claimed that Ms Ke was alive when he left her flat and that he was not responsible for her death.
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he → claim → death
He admitted to jurors he was a 'pathological liar', but insisted: 'Killing is not something I am capable of.
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I → admit → jurors
I did no such thing.'
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I → do → thing
Despite this, he was stopped on his way to Birmingham Airport with the same blood-stained jacket he was wearing in CCTV from the crime.
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he → stop → crime
A jury deliberated for two hours on Thursday before rejecting his version of events and found him guilty of murder and perverting the course of justice by attempting to flee the country.
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him → deliberate → country
The Old Bailey heard that Sandhu spun an elaborate web of 'white lies'.
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Sandhu → hear → lies
He told Ms Ke his sister was living in Southampton when she was in India and also claimed to be a model and actor who travelled on trips to the US for auditions.
Mr Sandhu spotted at a Southampton Coach Station before police stopped him trying to travel to Birmingham Airport
He even lied about attending his graduation ceremony at Southampton Solent University despite having been removed from his course months earlier for poor attendance.
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He → tell → attendance
He did eventually admit to taking money from Ms Ke, but the defendant claimed he was robbed of £3,500 at gunpoint in the US and had a job at a bank paying £6,000 a month, none of which was true.
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none → admit → which
Ms Carberry told jurors that by the time of her murder, Ms Ke was well aware of his 'true character'.
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Ke → tell → character
She called him out as a 'liar' and demanded he pay her back, telling him: 'Don't come see me.
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he → call → me
Sandhu reacted by telling her former brothel boss that she 'will regret what she has done'.
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she → react → what
In messages on WhatsApp, Sandhu vented his anger and asked an associate 'Do you think I have to take my revenge on her?'
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I → vent → her
Meanwhile, he pleaded with Ms Ke to give him another chance, claiming he had the money he had stolen from her and that he could get her British citizenship through a contact.
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he → plead → contact
Having 'pestered' Ms Ke and promised to return her money, the defendant set off from Southampton on December 9 last year armed with a knife.
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defendant → pester → knife
When he was stopped on his way to Birmingham Airport, Sandhu had with him the same blood-stained jacket he was wearing in CCTV from the crime
Doorbell camera footage from Ms Ke's Airbnb bedsit captured him arriving with his face covered and wearing a baseball cap and leaving after about 90 minutes.
After the killing, Sandhu phoned his sister in India and booked a flight from Birmingham to Mumbai.
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Sandhu → stop → Mumbai
He was arrested on December 12 last year as he travelled on a National Express coach from Southampton to Birmingham Airport.
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he → arrest → Airport
Sandhu, of Newlands Avenue in Southampton, admitted that he had lied to Ms Ke about being an actor and taking £500, saying he struggled to survive on construction work and handouts from family.
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he → admit → family
By the time he set off to visit Ms Ke in London he was feeling 'desperate' and worried she would ask for the money back, but denied he was out for 'revenge'.
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he → set → revenge
On arrival, he said she told him to wait in a laundry room while she was with a 'customer'.
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she → say → customer
He heard arguing and later saw blood in the flat but did not see the killer.
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He → hear → killer
He told jurors that when he saw Ms Ke, she told him to go, adding: 'I am not a dangerous man.
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I → tell → him
I am not capable of killing.'
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I → kill → killing
Detective Chief Inspector Wayne Jolley, who led the investigation, said: 'Xiaoqing's family have been through an unimaginably painful time, and our thoughts remain with them.
'
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thoughts → lead → 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.
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Sandhu → uncover → life
'Xiaoqing should never have had to endure what happened to her either in the months before her death or in the final moments of her life.
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what → have → life
'Tackling violence against women and girls remains one of our key priorities, and we will do everything to identify those who carry out these offences and bring them to justice.'
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who → tackle → justice
Shikha Varma, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: 'Xiaoqing Ke saw through Deepak Sandhu's many lies and, when she rejected him and ended their relationship, he reacted by taking her life in a calculated and brutal attack.
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he → say → attack
The CPS remains 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.
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who → remain → law
Despite his repeated denials and efforts to evade justice, prosecutors were able to unravel his lies and present extensive evidence to the court of his anger towards Ms Ke and his presence at the scene, and the jury found him guilty of murder.
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him → repeat → murder
…and 2 more, not listed.
The Aporia
