Man who defrauded and murdered elderly woman jailed

A man who murdered an elderly woman in her own home has been jailed for life.

Sandeep Patel, 38, had cashed a number of cheques in Annie Temple’s name in the days before her murder in October 2019.

Patel’s father had been Mrs Temple’s GP and his mother still visited the pensioner in her home in Kinglassie, Fife.

Between 3 and 23 October, Patel made out cheques totalling £2750 to himself and signed them in Mrs Temple’s name. He successfully deposited £1500 into his account, before a suspicious bank teller stopped the last cheque and alerted Mrs Temple.

On 25 October, Patel killed the 97-year-old in her home.

After a trial, he pled guilty to the fraud and to a separate charge of altering a £5 refund cheque from Western Toyota by adding two zeros and trying to cash it on 19 July 2019.

A jury found him guilty of murdering Mrs Temple.

Patel was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow on Monday.

David Green, Procurator Fiscal for Homicide and Major Crime, said: “Sandeep Patel took advantage of the trust fostered by his family’s relationship with Annie Temple and used it to defraud her of her money. When Ms Temple then discovered his betrayal, he brutally murdered her.

“It’s thanks to painstaking work by detectives and prosecutors that Patel has been brought to justice.

“Our thoughts are with Annie Temple’s loved ones as they attempt to come to terms with her murder.”