Deepak Sandhu, a 24‑year‑old Indian student, was convicted by the jury at the Old Bailey of murdering Xiaoqing Ke, a 39‑year‑old Chinese visitor, in a bedsit on Old Brompton Road, Earl’s Court, on December 10, 2025. The verdict, reached after two hours of deliberation, also found him guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice by planning to leave the UK after the killing.
Ke had arrived in London on a visitor visa in early 2025 to work in a brothel in Southampton, where she met Sandhu as a customer. Their relationship soured when she discovered he had taken £500 from her handbag, prompting her to confront him and reject any further contact.
Evidence presented included doorbell‑camera footage from Ke’s Airbnb that showed Sandhu arriving on December 9, 2025, wearing a baseball cap and face mask, holding a knife, and leaving after about 90 minutes. Prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC highlighted his pattern of lies, including false claims of being a model, an actor, and having earned a £6,000‑per‑month bank job in the U.S.
Sandhu had entered the UK on a student visa in September 2024, yet his visa was revoked six months later after he abandoned his AI studies in Southampton. After Ke’s death, he called his sister in India and booked a flight from Birmingham to Mumbai, but was apprehended on December 12 while traveling on a National Express coach from Southampton to Birmingham Airport.
The sentencing is scheduled for May 15, 2026, when a judge will impose a life sentence. The case underscores the dangers of unchecked online relationships and the challenges of policing foreign students in the UK.