A man accused of strangling and suffocation his wife with a Tesco Bag for Life searched
"I need to kill my wife" on the internet, a court has heard.
Murder accused Mitesh Patel also searched "plot to kill my wife, why do I need co-conspirators"
online, a jury has been told.
Patel denied the murder of wife Jessica at Teesside Crown Court.
The couple ran a pharmacist on Roman Road in Linthorpe , Middlesbrough and Jessica was
found dead at their home nearby Prosecutor Nicholas Campbell QC told jurors
about internet searches stretching back more than five years.
Mr Campbell says Patel explored how much insulin was needed to kill a healthy non-diabetic,
as his wife was.
And Mr Campbell said while Jessica was going through a cycle of IVF, Patel was researching
how to strangle someone, the effects of strangulation and how long it took for a person to die from
strangulation.
Mr Campbell told the hearing Patel also looked into hiring a hitman on the "dark web".
Searches were deleted, but that did not remove all digital trace of them.
In March 2014, he searched for "how much methadone will kill you," added the Crown QC.
Days before her death, while he and his wife were on holiday in Fuerteventura in the Canary
Islands, Patel was seeking sex online, said Mr Campbell.
The prosecutor says Patel was also searching about: "Life after loss of spouse,"
"Finding your way after losing a spouse," "Coping with the death of your spouse,"
"The death of spouse, rebuilding your life after the first year," and
"How do I arrange a funeral".
The court had earlier heard Patel stood to profit to the tune of £2m from her death.
Opening the case on the first day of evidence at Teesside Crown Court, Nicholas Campbell
QC, prosecuting, said Patel strangled his wife then falsely claimed their house had
been burgled - a burglary he had "stage managed".
He alleged Patel planned to start a new life in Australia with his "soulmate", another
man.
The court was previously told Patel had met several men for sex using social network Grindr.
Mrs Patel's wrists had been bound with duct tape which, the prosecution said, the husband
had done after he killed her.
The barrister said: "Jessica Patel had been killed as a result of pressure being brought
to bear on her neck.
She was strangled.
"The prosecution case was that a plastic shopping bag, ironically a Tesco Bag For Life, was
used both as a ligature and to suffocate her."
He left the house after killing her and was noticed to be behaving strangely, the court
heard.
He then returned home, tried to hide the hard drive of the house CCTV system in a suitcase
of clothes under a mattress, and only four minutes after he got home did he call 999.
By then, his wife had been dead for an hour, Mr Campbell said.
Jessica suffered serious injuries before she died at the couple's semi-detached home.
Emergency services were called to the address at about 8.20pm and she was pronounced dead
at the scene.
Patel, 37, has denied the charge of murdering Mrs Patel, 34, on May 14.
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