A Southampton man who travelled to west London with a knife to kill the woman who had tried to end their relationship has been found guilty of her murder.
Deepak Sandhu, 23, was convicted at the Old Bailey on Thursday of murdering Xiaoqing Ke, 39, at her home on Old Brompton Road in Earl’s Court last December. Officers stopped him on a coach as he was on his way to the airport, in the middle of an attempt to flee the country.
A planned journey to London
The court heard that Sandhu and Xiaoqing had been in a brief relationship, and that when she tried to finish it, he became increasingly fixated and angry. A Metropolitan Police investigation recovered messages showing what detectives described as a tirade of controlling and abusive behaviour in the weeks before her death.
Detectives also found that Sandhu had taken money from Xiaoqing and lied to her — behaviour that hardened her decision to break up with him. In reply, he spoke to a friend of wanting revenge, and in a message sent days before the killing, he predicted he would “become evil”.
On Tuesday 9 December, Sandhu made the journey from Southampton to London carrying a knife, after arranging to meet Xiaoqing. He tried to disguise who he was before she let him into the address, where he stabbed her. He left the flat roughly 90 minutes later and began trying to get out of the country.
Body found the next day
Police were called to the Old Brompton Road address on Wednesday 10 December after concerns were raised for Xiaoqing’s welfare. Inside, officers found her body with multiple stab wounds.
The murder squad pulled together phone records, clothing and forensic evidence. Analysis of blood taken from the scene matched Sandhu, and the messages between the pair painted a picture of a man who, in the police’s words, had become obsessed with her after a short-lived relationship.
Stopped on the way to the airport
After the killing, Sandhu tried to cover his tracks. He told a family member that another man had killed Xiaoqing while he was at the flat, and he booked a flight to Mumbai.
None of it worked. On Friday 12 December, officers located him on a coach heading to the airport and arrested him after he was stopped and cautioned on board.
What the detective said
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. 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.”
He added that tackling violence against women and girls remained one of the force’s key priorities, and that officers would do everything to identify those who carry out these offences and bring them to justice.
The case is the latest in a series of London convictions where control and abuse inside a relationship ended in a killing — cases that include a Croydon man convicted after a jury heard about years of coercive behaviour and the Balham man jailed for life for killing his ex-partner days after walking out of Wandsworth Prison early.
What happens next
Sandhu will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday 16 October. A murder conviction in England and Wales carries a mandatory life sentence, with the judge setting the minimum term he must serve before he can be considered for parole.
The case at a glance
- Victim: Xiaoqing Ke, 39, found dead at her Old Brompton Road home in Earl’s Court on 10 December 2025.
- Convicted: Deepak Sandhu, 23, of Newlands Avenue, Southampton, guilty of murder at the Old Bailey on 15 October 2026.
- Key evidence: controlling messages, a text predicting he would “become evil”, blood at the scene matching Sandhu, and a knife brought from Southampton.
- Arrest: stopped on a coach on the way to the airport on 12 December 2025, after booking a flight to Mumbai.
- Sentencing: Old Bailey, Friday 16 October 2026.
The Met’s release also noted a separate conviction of a man who attacked a woman walking to work in Catford, part of the force’s wider push on offences against women and girls in the capital.
