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'Bitter' husband guilty of murder | 'Bitter' husband guilty of murder |
(about 1 hour later) | |
A "bitter" husband has been jailed for at least 18 years for stabbing his wife to death at her workplace in London when she chose to start a new life. | |
Thaker Ramanlal, 48, attacked Varsha Champaclal at Peacocks clothing store, Mitcham, on 13 February. | |
The Old Bailey heard he slit the 43-year-old's throat in a storeroom. | |
Ramanlal, of Coombe Lane, Kingston, south-west London, saw his diminished responsibility claim rejected. On Tuesday he was jailed for life. | |
It took the jury just 90 minutes to find him guilty. | |
Peter Finnegan QC, prosecuting, had told the court: "After over 20 years of marriage, during which she put up with his bullying, his abusive and controlling behaviour, Varsha Champaclal summoned up the courage to make a new life for herself and her two daughters." | Peter Finnegan QC, prosecuting, had told the court: "After over 20 years of marriage, during which she put up with his bullying, his abusive and controlling behaviour, Varsha Champaclal summoned up the courage to make a new life for herself and her two daughters." |
Mrs Champaclal had predicted she would be killed | |
In an earlier incident, police were called to the family home after Ramanlal chased his wife out of the property with a hammer. | |
He was then issued with a non-molestation order. | |
It was at that point Mrs Champaclal had prophesied her own murder - six months before her husband committed the crime. | |
In a statement during the application for the order, she had said: "Without the non-molestation order, I am certain me and my daughters' lives will be in danger. | |
"I am sure our next encounter with him will, for sure, be our deaths." |
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