London: An Indian-origin conman was on Wednesday convicted of murdering a millionaire oil executive by stabbing her in the neck at a central London flat to fund his gambling habits.
Rakesh Bhayani from Wembley in north-west London was convicted at the Old Bailey court here for the murder of Carole Waugh, who had disappeared from her Marylebone flat in May 2012. Her body was found in a garage in southwest London on August 2 last year.
During the trial, prosecutors told the court that "the evidence strongly suggests" Waugh was stabbed in the neck at home on April 16, 2012. The 50-year-old was said to be lonely and worked as an amateur escort.
Bhayani, 41, had told jurors at the Old Bailey that he went to Waugh's flat with co-defendant Nicholas Kutner, 48, to remove her corpse and store it in a car. He explained that he did not contact police because he was involved in a fraud with Waugh and Kutner and feared he would be linked to her murder.
Kutner was cleared of murder but found guilty of perverting the course of justice by concealing the death. He has already admitted conspiracy to defraud.
Bhayani too previously admitted conspiracy to defraud Waugh and perverting the course of justice by concealing the death. He claimed a casual affair with the deceased and that she had agreed to disappear from the country so that he could carry out various frauds using her name with accomplice Kutner.
The court concluded that the married father of two murdered his former lover to fund his out-of-control gambling habit. Bhayani has made 14 previous court appearances for 95 offences and Kutner has been before the courts 13 times for 97 offences, jurors were told.
Waugh had lent him 40,000 pounds in February 2011 and paid him 12,000 pounds to receive treatment for his gambling addiction. When he was arrested for fraud she visited him in prison. "She was taken in by him. She thought he was her friend, but Mr Bhayani doesn't do friends. Once he had been released from prison, knowing how much she had and wanting it, he planned that she should die," prosecutor Patrick Gibbs said during the trial.
Estate agent witness Amit Khagram told the court Bhayani owed him 17,000 pounds and Waugh owed him between 30,000 pounds and 40,000 pounds, and said that he was repaid after April 16, 2012.
Khagram said he received text messages from Waugh's phone arranging for the pair to meet near her flat to give him his money. But each time he went he received a message from her mobile to say she could not see him but had instead given the cash to a friend, whom he then collected it from. He said Bhayani told him Waugh had moved out of London to care for her sick mother.
Justice Wilkie deferred sentencing at the end of the trial today to allow for Waugh's family to attend. "I am particularly aware that the family of Carole Waugh are not in attendance today and that it should be desirable that they should be present," he said.
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