Man Stabbed To Death Mom Of 2 Kids, Attempted To Kill Another Woman In London

A 31-year-old man, who stabbed a mother to death as she delivered food to her sons during lockdown in 2020, faces life in prison.

James Sinclair stabbed 40-year-old Shadika Patel in the chest in Altmore Avenue, London in the early hours of March 19, 2020, reported Islington Gazette. The night after the murder, he attacked sex worker Beverley Barzey, who went down an alleyway with Sinclair. He inflicted at least 12 stab wounds, but Barzey survived.

Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones earlier told the jury that at a little past half past midnight, Patel was "approached on foot by a man and that man was the defendant." He noted that there is good quality CCTV covering the location, and the defendant and Patel can be seen to engage in "what looks like a brief and slightly awkward conversation." He said that the two then separated but "the defendant did not leave."

Sinclair ducked out of Patel's view, behind a wall, where he "can be seen on the CCTV to put a glove on his right hand." The killer then emerged and ran after the mother of two. Sinclair caught up with her just out of the field of view of the camera, but there is a "microphone on that camera which recorded the audio of what happened next." Jones explained that what happened was that the defendant stabbed "Patel seven times, before running away." According to the lawyer, Sinclair stabbed "her in the face and in the head and in the shoulders.”

Her screams were overheard by residents in the area who called for help, but she died in a hospital. Jones said that the following night, Barzey was prepared to accompany the killer to a "secluded location in order to engage, she thought, in sexual activity with him in return for money." The two went together into a dark alleyway, and when they got there the killer pulled out a big knife.

Jones said that Barzey described the weapon "as being like a machete." The killer attacked her with it, "stabbing her repeatedly, like Ms Patel, to the face and mainly to the upper body.”

Sinclair booked a flight to Rio when he learned the police were after him. He was arrested before he could reach the airport. Sinclair denied murder and attempted murder, reported Mirror.

Samantha Yelland, from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said that Patel was a "concerned mother who had packed a bag of food to take to her children ahead of the national lockdown, but she was brutally murdered before she even got on the bus."

Following a trial at the Old Bailey, which he did not attend, he was found guilty of murder and attempted murder Tuesday. BBC reported that Defence barrister Gillian Jones QC said that it was his "right" to be absent. He told the jury not to hold it as evidence against him. He will be sentenced Friday.