A jealous woman who killed her lover by poisoning his curry was facing a life sentence yesterday after being convicted of his murder.
Lakhvir Singh, 45, was said to have killed Lakhvinder "Lucky" Cheema, 39, because she could not bear the thought of his marriage to another woman. He had been due to marry Gurjeet Choongh, 21, on Valentine's Day last year. But on January 27, they both became violently ill after eating leftover curry which had been in the fridge of their home.
Within hours, Mr Cheema was dead and Miss Choongh was fighting for her life after being poisoned with Indian aconite. Aconite, known as the Queen of Poisons, is one of the most deadly poisons but this was the first case in England since 1882.
Ms Singh, of Southall, London, was found guilty at the Old Bailey of murdering Mr Cheema and causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Ms Choongh.
After her arrest, Ms Singh, a mother of three, tried to blame her brother-in-law Varinder for the death. But a lodger at the house saw her take a container with the curry out of the fridge earlier in the day, the court heard.
Ms Singh and Mr Cheema had been having a secret affair for 16 years but he decided to settle down and have children. Ms Singh's husband was being treated for cancer abroad and she claimed to police that Mr Cheema had talked her out of divorcing him. But she continued to text Mr Cheema with love messages and tried to talk him out of marrying Ms Choongh, whom he had only known for a few months.
After the engagement became final in November 2008, Ms Singh went to India and returned three weeks later. A week after that, Mr Cheema was taken to hospital. Ms Singh went with him and stayed by his bedside each day. It was there that Ms Choongh realised there had been a relationship and warned her off.
Things got worse over Christmas when Ms Singh discovered that Mr Cheema was determined to go ahead with the marriage to the younger woman. As the wedding approached, there were tearful showdowns but Ms Singh turned up one morning expecting the couple to be at work - and headed straight for the fridge. That evening, the couple were discussing their wedding plans over dinner.
Ms Choongh said: "Lucky ate more than I. After that, he had second helpings. Lucky said to me 'I am not feeling very well. My face has become numb and when I touch it, I cannot feel it'."
Ms Choongh said she began feeling similar symptoms and an ambulance was called.
"He said that everything seemed to be going dark. He could not see anything and was losing feelings in his body... He said 'I think this problem is because of the food we have eaten'," Ms Choongh said.
"I was feeling the same. Everything was going dark. I began to feel dizzy. It was difficult to stand up. My tummy was hurting."
Suspicious that Ms Singh had poisoned them, Mr Cheema rang for an ambulance. He told the operator: "Someone put poison in our food... she is my ex-girlfriend."