Deepak Sandhu has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 28 years for the murder of Xiaoqing Ke at an Airbnb in Earl’s Court, after he was sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday 16 October.
The 24-year-old, who was convicted of murder by a jury on Thursday, was also found guilty of perverting the course of justice. He will not be eligible to be considered for release by the Parole Board until the 28-year minimum term has been served.
Prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC told the court that Sandhu had carried out a “brutal and fatal revenge attack” after Ms Ke, 39, rejected him and confronted him over a string of lies he had told her.
The court heard that Sandhu travelled from Southampton to west London on 9 December last year armed with a knife bought from Asda. Doorbell footage captured him arriving at the Earl’s Court property with his face covered and wearing a baseball cap; he left around 90 minutes later. Ms Ke’s body was discovered at the flat the following day.
After the killing, Sandhu phoned his sister in India and booked a flight from Birmingham to Mumbai in an attempt to flee the country. He was arrested on 12 December as he travelled on a National Express coach from Southampton to Birmingham Airport.
Sandhu, an Indian national whose student visa had been revoked after he dropped out of his university course in Southampton, denied murder at trial and claimed Ms Ke was alive when he left the flat.
A relationship built on lies
The Old Bailey heard that the pair had met and conducted a secret relationship, communicating through a translation app. Ms Ke, a Chinese national who had arrived in the UK on a visitor’s visa, discovered that Sandhu had stolen £500 from her handbag and confronted him about his dishonesty.
Ms Carberry outlined a series of falsehoods. Sandhu claimed to be living with his sister in Southampton when she was in fact in India, presented himself as a model and actor, invented a trip to the United States for an audition, and spoke of a graduation ceremony at Southampton Solent University that did not exist. In reality, he had been removed from his course months earlier because of poor attendance.
After admitting taking the money, Sandhu told Ms Ke he had been robbed of £3,500 at gunpoint in America and claimed to hold a bank job paying £6,000 a month. She called him out as a liar and demanded repayment, telling him: “Don’t come see me. I’m clear, I’m not a fool.”
He reacted by telling an associate that she “will regret what she has done”, and in WhatsApp messages asked an associate: “Do you think I have to take my revenge on her?” Days before the killing, he predicted in a message that he would “become evil”.
What the CPS said
Shikha Varma, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said Ms Ke had seen through Sandhu’s many lies and that when she rejected him and ended the relationship, he responded with a calculated and brutal attack.
The CPS said it remained committed to ensuring perpetrators of horrific violence against women and girls were robustly prosecuted and faced the full force of the law. Ms Varma added that the service’s thoughts remained with Ms Ke’s family and friends, and expressed the hope that the conviction and sentence would bring them some measure of justice.
How the 28-year minimum term works
Murder carries a mandatory life sentence in England and Wales. When passing sentence, the judge must set a minimum term — sometimes called the tariff — which is the period the offender must spend in prison before they can even be considered for release by the Parole Board.
Under Schedule 21 of the Sentencing Code, judges work from starting points that reflect the seriousness of the killing: 30 years for murders involving firearms or the killing of police or prison officers in the course of their duty, 25 years where a knife or other weapon is taken to the scene with intent, and 15 years for other murders committed by adults. Aggravating factors — such as significant planning, a revenge motive and attempts to evade justice — can push the term higher, while mitigating factors can reduce it.
A minimum term of 28 years means Sandhu will spend at least the next 28 years in prison before he can even be considered for parole, with time already spent on remand counting towards the total. Even then, release is not automatic: the Parole Board must be satisfied he no longer poses a risk, and a life sentence means he would remain on licence — subject to recall to prison — for the rest of his life.
Other recent sentences handed down for the most serious offences include the 20-year term given to Johannes Natland over an Iran-linked murder plot, while a Balham man was jailed for life after killing his ex-partner days after early release from Wandsworth.
Timeline of the case
- September 2024 – Sandhu arrives in the UK on a student visa.
- Early 2025 – His visa is revoked after he drops out of university in Southampton; Ms Ke arrives in the UK on a standard visitor’s visa.
- 9 December 2025 – Sandhu travels from Southampton to Earl’s Court with a knife; Ms Ke is killed at the Airbnb.
- 10 December 2025 – Ms Ke’s body is found at the Old Brompton Road property.
- 12 December 2025 – Sandhu is arrested on a coach heading to Birmingham Airport after booking a flight to Mumbai.
- 15 October 2026 – A jury at the Old Bailey convicts him of murder and perverting the course of justice.
- 16 October 2026 – He is sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 28 years.
Sentencing a day after conviction
The trial took place at the Central Criminal Court, better known as the Old Bailey, where the most serious criminal cases in England and Wales are heard before a High Court judge and jury. After the jury returned guilty verdicts on Thursday, sentencing was adjourned to Friday — a common practice that gives the judge time to prepare sentencing remarks and consider any reports before imposing the term.
Ms Ke was 39. Her family have been supported by specialist officers throughout the investigation and trial, and the CPS said its thoughts remained with them at what it described as an incredibly difficult time.
