Failed AI student 'fantasist' guilty of murdering woman in brutal London Airbnb revenge attack

Failed AI student 'fantasist' guilty of murdering woman in brutal London Airbnb revenge attack Deepak Sandhu has been found guilty of a murdering a woman after she rejected him - Bookmark Become an Independent member to bookmark this article Already a member? Log in A failed AI student has been found guilty of murdering a woman at an Airbnb to exact “brutal and fatal revenge” after she rejected him. Deepak Sandhu, 24, who dropped out of university and had claimed to be a model and actor, bought knives in Asda and travelled to Earl’s Court in west London before killing Xiaoqing Ke, 39, the Old Bailey was told. Ms Ke was found lying face down on the bedroom floor of the bedsit in Old Brompton Road on 10 December last year, having suffered catastrophic injuries including a fatal deep stab wound to the neck. Prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC had said that Sandhu was a “fantasist” who had made false claims about his status and also stolen £500 from Ms Ke. Ms Carberry told jurors: “Xiaoqing Ke was murdered that evening by Deepak Sandhu who had become an obsessed, manipulative young man who could not accept her rejection of him and carried out a brutal and fatal revenge attack on her before attempting to leave the country.” Indian national Sandhu, whose student visa had been revoked, had denied being responsible for Ke’s death, claiming she was alive when he left her flat. A jury deliberated for two hours on Thursday to reject his version of events and find him guilty of murder and perverting the course of justice by attempting to flee the country. Previously, the court heard how Sandhu had entered the UK in September 2024 on a student visa which was revoked six months later, in March 2025, when he dropped out of university in Southampton. It was around this time that Chinese national Ms Ke arrived in the UK on a standard visitor’s visa. The two had met and engaged in a secret relationship by communicating via a translation app. At the time, Mandarin speaker Ms Ke was working at a brothel in Southampton and Punjabi speaker Sandhu was a customer, the court heard. 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. Outlining his “white lies”, Ms Carberry said: “He claimed to be living with his sister in Southampton even though she was in India. “He portrayed himself to her as a model and actor and he fabricated a trip to the United States for an audition. He told Ms Ke that he would be attending his graduation ceremony in Southampton Solent University. There was no such ceremony. “In reality he had been removed from his course months earlier because of poor attendance.” After admitting to taking money from Ms Ke, 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. Ms Carberry told jurors that by the time of her murder, Ms Ke was well aware of his “true character”. She called him out as a “liar” and demanded he pay her back, telling him: “Don’t come see me. I’m clear, I’m not a fool.” Sandhu reacted by telling her former brothel boss that she “will regret what she has done”. In messages on WhatsApp, Sandhu vented his anger and asked an associate “Do you think I have to take my revenge on 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. Having “pestered” Ms Ke and promised to return her money, the defendant set off from Southampton on 9 December last year armed with a knife. 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. He was arrested on 12 December last year as he travelled on a National Express coach from Southampton to Birmingham 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. By the time he set off to visit Ms Ke in London he was feeling “desperate” and worried she would ask for money back, but denied he was out for “revenge”. On arrival, he said she told him to wait in a laundry room while she was with a “customer”, he heard arguing and later saw blood in the flat but did not see the killer, he said. He told jurors that when he saw Ms Ke, she told him to go, adding: “I am not a dangerous man. I am not capable of killing.”