Killer snared by bloody footprint 30 years after he knifed mum to death at her home is finally behind bars
A KILLER snared by a bloody footprint 30 years after he stabbed a mum to death is finally behind bars.
Sandip Patel, 51, attacked Marina Koppell, 39 at her London home on August 8, 1994.
The killer’s evil crimes went undetected for three decades until a bloody footprint smeared on a skirting board betrayed him.
Thanks to advances in technology, police were able to match his DNA to the evidence and he was charged with murder.
Officers also discovered his DNA on a hair found nestled on a gold ring mum-of-two Marina was wearing at the time.
Patel, who refused to appear for sentencing, has now been jailed for life with a minimum of 19 years after being convicted of murder.
Mr Justice Cavanagh said: “The terror and pain that you inflicted on Mrs Koppel is difficult to imagine.
“You deprived Ms Koppel of many more years of life.
“No sentence that I pass can compensate the family of Mrs Koppel for their loss.”
The Old Bailey heard Marina was subjected to a “brutal” slaughter at the home she rented for her sex work.
Although her husband David did not “necessarily approve” of her work, he “accepted it”.
On the night she was killed, he had driven to the capital from his home in Northampton after Marina failed to answer his calls.
David, who died in 2005 without ever finding his wife’s killer, discovered Marina in a bedroom with multiple stab wounds.
A plastic bag was also found at the scene that contained Patel’s fingerprints.
But as Patel worked at his dad’s store ‘Sherlock Holmes News‘ in nearby Baker Street at the time, the evidence was deemed not strong enough as Marina could have taken a bag from him.
In 2008, a breakthrough came when a scientist discovered the hair on the ring – although DNA advances were not strong enough at the time to be able to find a match.
It was only in 2022 that officers were able to link both the jewellery and the bloody footprint to Patel.
Marina’s family said: “Marina Koppel, our sister-in-law, was an extremely bright, highly intelligent and charismatic person, who saw good in her family and all people she met.
“She wanted to give them everything they needed, especially her two children and nephew who grew up in Colombia.
“Her family and friends would have been in a much better place because of her abundance of energy for life had she not died.
“Marina was a daughter, a sister, a mother, a loving aunt, a daughter-in-law and a sister-in-law who was much loved by all of us as she loved all of us.
“Had Marina lived, all of the lives of her family and friends would have been enriched and further evolved. We have all suffered these many, many years because we lost Marina so early in life”.
