How police solved the 1994 cold case murder of Marina Koppel

On the night of Monday 8 Could 1994 David Koppel was turning into more and more nervous about his 39-year-old spouse Marina.

Unusually, he had not been capable of attain her by cellphone that day. So at 9pm he left his house in Northampton and drove all the way in which into central London to go to her flat close to Baker Road, Marylebone, within the Metropolis of Westminster.

He arrived on the Flat in York Mansions in Chiltern Road at about 11.30. As he went via every room he discovered his spouse mendacity on the ground of the second bed room.

She had been stabbed at the very least 140 occasions and her blood may very well be seen splashed over the ground, the bedding, the furnishings and the partitions.

In addition to the deadly wounds to her neck which just about severed her left jugular vein, Marina additionally had knife accidents to her arms and arms, which instructed she had tried to fend off the blows through the assault.

David Koppel instantly referred to as police, who started a homicide investigation.

Detectives established that Marina, a colombian nationwide, had moved into the flat two weeks earlier than her demise and used it to see shoppers whereas working as a masseuse providing sexual companies.

Her husband, who had married her in 1983 after assembly her in a on line casino, was conscious of the association. He instructed police that her shoppers have been often well-to-do professionals and businessman and that her regular price was £80 (roughly round £250 in 2024). She would often keep on the flat through the week and keep together with her husband in Northampton at weekends.

So was the killer considered one of her shoppers? Maybe, provided that Marina was wearing lacy underwear on the time of her demise. Or was theft the motive? One clue was that Marina’s financial institution card was stolen from her flat and used at a money level within the space shortly after the homicide.

Different proof recovered from the scene have been Marina’s ring and a brown plastic procuring bag.

A fingerprint discovered on the bag was recognized as belonging to Sandip Patel, then 21, who labored at his father’s store named “Sherlock Holmes Information” in Baker Road.

Nonetheless the bag in query was from the store and subsequently it may very well be argued that discovering his fingerprint on it was not sudden. In consequence he was not handled as a suspect and the police investigation did not make any additional headway for greater than a decade.

Sadly David Koppel died in 2005 earlier than additional essential proof was recognized.

When the proof was re-examined in 2008, a single hair was discovered caught to Marina’s ring. Nonetheless it was not till 2022 when scientists have been ready to make use of new methods to acquire a DNA profile from it.

When the profile was run via the database it got here up with a match to Patel, whose DNA had been added to the database on account of a conviction for precise bodily hurt in 2012.

When Patel, 51 (26.08.1972), of Queens Court docket, Finchley Street, NW8, was arrested he instructed police that he had no recollection of Marina Koppel or her flat. “I don’t know how my fingerprint got here to be on this provider bag or how a hair of mine was current,” he mentioned in interivew.

Specialists have been additionally capable of hyperlink Patel to the print of a naked left foot in blood on a skirting board on the crime scene.

He was rearrested and charged with homicide in March 2023. This time he answered no remark to questions.

Patel was convicted of homicide on the Previous Bailey 15 February 2024 following a trial on the Previous Bailey.

Marina Koppel, our sister-in-law, was an especially brilliant, very smart and charismatic individual, who noticed good in her household and all folks she met. She needed to offer them the whole lot they wanted, particularly her two youngsters and nephew who grew up in Columbia.

Her household and mates would have been in a a lot better place due to her abundance of power for all times had she not died. Marina was a daughter, a sister, a mom, a loving aunt, a daughter-in-law and a sister-in-law who was a lot cherished by all of us as she cherished all of us.

Had Marina lived, the entire lives of her household and mates would have been enriched and additional advanced. We’ve got all suffered these many, a few years as a result of we misplaced Marina so early in life

Marina’s sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Mary and Martin Koppel, talking in 2024

After the decision, Detective Superintendent Katherine Goodwin, Head of the Specialist Casework workforce for Central Specialist Crime mentioned: “This can be very unhappy that her husband didn’t reside to see at the present time.

“Regardless that Patel has been convicted for the brutal homicide of Marina, we could by no means know the explanations for his actions on that day. Unsolved homicide circumstances are by no means closed and it’s as a result of developments of forensic methods now we have been capable of establish the suspect for this barbaric crime.”

Dan Chester, the Met’s forensic lead for chilly case murder investigations, mentioned unsolved historic murders c”an be amongst a number of the most complicated and difficult circumstances for police to unravel.”

He added: “This was an incredible workforce effort with the forensic scientists, fingerprint consultants, the forensic supervisor and the investigating workforce all enjoying their half in fixing Marina’s homicide.

“Forensic methods and applied sciences are consistently evolving, and the police will proceed to assessment severe unsolved circumstances and, the place attainable, pursue new alternatives to allow each the prosecution of these accountable and to exonerate the harmless.”