A close friend of murdered pensioner Annie Temple said her killer can “rot in hell” after his merciless actions.
Wendy Bradbury said Sandeep Patel should receive a lengthy prison sentence for murdering the 97-year-old, who was also a close friend of her killer’s mother.
On Tuesday, Patel was found guilty of murdering Mrs Temple at her home in Kinglassie, in October 2019.
He had suffocated her after preying on her for money to feed his gambling addiction.
Wendy said she knew Patel through his mother, Kamini Patel, who was the widow of Mrs Temple’s former GP.
Mrs Patel, 72, helped run errands for Mrs Temple – known as Nan – and the three women were friendly, even celebrating Mrs Temple’s 97th birthday together.
‘Put him away’
Glasgow High Court heard medical researcher Patel also did odd jobs for Mrs Temple.
Patel will be sentenced at a later date, after reports have been prepared.
Wendy said she feels the only suitable sentence is a very long period of imprisonment to prevent Patel preying on other vulnerable people if he is released.
She said: “He can rot in hell for all I care.
“I hope he’s inside for years. Put him away, then he can’t supposedly befriend anyone else.
“I want justice for Nan. She didn’t deserve that.”
However she did reserve some sympathy for Patel’s mother.
She said: “I honestly don’t know (if I would talk to her).
“I don’t know if I would walk past her or give her a hug.
“She is the innocent person in all this.
“She’s got to spend the rest of her life in a community who knows what her son did.
“That’s got to be difficult for her.”
‘She said she didn’t trust him’
The court heard how Patel had cashed cheques from Mrs Temple’s account to fund a massive gambling habit until bank staff had stepped in.
Wendy said Mrs Temple had grown suspicious.
“There was money missing from her sideboard,” she said.
“She said she thought Sandeep had taken it.
“She said she had been in the kitchen and came out to see him standing next to the sideboard.
“She was adamant but I said she must have made a mistake as he wouldn’t take money like that.
“She said she didn’t trust him.
“She made her thoughts clear to me but whether she said anything to anyone else I don’t know.”
Shocking realisation
Wendy also told of the shocking moment she realised police suspected Patel of her friend’s murder.
“The only time I got the feeling he was involved was when the CID were here,” she said.
“I said something to them and they asked who had said that and I could see by the looks on their faces.
“I said, ‘oh my god, it was him wasn’t it?’ but they said ‘no comment’.”
She said the comments related to a phone call Patel had made to her following Mrs Temple’s death.
She had earlier told the trial at the High Court in Glasgow how Patel appeared “perfectly normal” when discussing the pensioner’s death in that call.
Active, independent and frugal
Wendy said she first met Mrs Temple in 1982 when they both worked as the only women on the payroll of the Refuge Assurance firm in Dunfermline.
Mrs Temple had grown up on a farm in Cumbria before moving to Scotland.
She married her husband Will, who worked for Fife Council, and they settled in Kinglassie.
However the couple had no children and Mr Temple died in 1988, with Mrs Temple continuing to live in the house they shared.
Neighbours said she remained very active and independent, despite being in her 90s.
She was a regular church-goer and would help serve tea during events in the church hall.
Wendy said her friend lived a “very frugal life”, refusing to spend money on herself.
She said: “She had all this money and yet she would never spend any on herself.
“Her cooker was really old and she never had a washing machine in her life.”
‘Lies and deceit’
Detective Superintendent Andrew Patrick, from Police Scotland’s Major Investigation Team, said: “The lies and deceit (Patel) weaved through the local community in Kinglassie shows a complete disregard for all those around him.
“I hope this conviction brings them some degree of comfort.
“Annie was a popular member of the community and her death caused widespread shock in the local area.”
