A fantasist stabbed a woman at an Airbnb to exact “brutal and fatal revenge” after she rejected him, a court has heard.
University drop-out Deepak Sandhu, 24, who had claimed to be a model and actor, bought knives in Asda and travelled to Earl’s Court in west London where he killed Xiaoqing Ke, 39, the Old Bailey was told.
Ms Ke was found face down on the bedroom floor of the bedsit on Old Brompton Road on December 10 last year, having suffered catastrophic injuries including a fatal deep wound to the neck.
Opening Sandhu’s murder trial on Tuesday, prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC told jurors: “The evidence will show that he was something of a fantasist – making false claims to her about his achievements and status.
“In the days before Mr Ke was murdered, the defendant expressed his anger and determination to take revenge on her.
“On December 9, armed with a knife, he travelled to London Victoria from where he lived in Southampton and made his way to Ms Ke’s Airbnb bedsit.
“The evidence you will see and hear during this trial will demonstrate that 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.”
Chinese national Ms Ke had arrived in the UK on a standard visitors’ visa in March 2025 and Indian national Deepak had entered the country in September 2024 on a student visa which was revoked six months later.
The pair 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, the jury was told.
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.”
Having admitted to taking money from Ms Ke, the defendant continued to lie by claiming he was robbed of £3,500 at gunpoint in the United States and had a job at a bank paying £6,000 a month, the court heard.
Ms Carberry told jurors that by the time of her murder, Ms Ke was well aware of his “true character”.
Ms Ke 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,” the court was told.
Sandhu allegedly reacted by telling her former brothel boss that she “will regret what she has done”.
In messages on WhatsApp, Sandhu vented his anger and determination to take revenge on her, the court was told.
He allegedly asked an associate: “Do you think I have to take my revenge on her?”.
In further messages he described Ms Ke as “selfish” and predicted he “will become an evil person”, jurors heard.
He also allegedly 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.
These were, said Ms Carberry, calculated attempts to get back in her “good books” and find out where she was staying in London so he could visit her.
Having “pestered” Ms Ke and promised to return her money, the defendant allegedly set off from Southampton on December 9 last year armed with a knife.
Doorbell camera footage from Ms Ke’s bedsit captured him arriving with his face covered and wearing a baseball cap and leaving after about 90 minutes, the court heard.
Ms Carberry said: “Almost immediately upon leaving his thoughts turned to avoiding detection and to fleeing the country.
“He telephoned his sister in India. He falsely claimed another man had killed Ms Ke while he was there when it happened.
“The next day he booked a flight from Birmingham to Mumbai and he changed his phone.
“There was no other man. The defendant is the only lone man seen entering and leaving the building on 9 December.”
The defendant was arrested on December 12 last year as he travelled on a National Express coach from Southampton to Birmingham Airport.
Sandhu, of Newlands Avenue in Southampton, denies murder and perverting the course of justice.
The Old Bailey trial continues.
