Man jailed for stabbing his teenage wife to death at their Croydon home

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A killer who stabbed his teenager wife to death in their south London home has been jailed for life.

Sahil Sharma, 24, attacked 19-year-old Mehak Sharma at an address in Croydon, before phoning the police to inform them of his actions.

Emergency services received a call at shortly after 4:15pm on 29 October 2023, with Sharma telling operators that he had killed his wife.

At the address on Ash Tree Way, officers found Mehak unresponsive. She was pronounced dead 20 minutes later.

A post-mortem examination found the cause of Mehak’s death was a stab wound to the neck.

Sharma pleaded guilty to her murder and has now been jailed for life, with a minimum term of 15 years.

A victim impact statement read out to the court from Mehak’s mother said: “The one thing I want more than anything is to have my daughter back but this is not possible.

“No amount of prayers or money or support will bring her back to me. I am broken. Sahil hasn’t just murdered Mehak, I feel he has killed me as well.”

Formerly a resident of Jogi Cheema village in Gurdaspur district of Punjab, her mother previously told The Indian Panorama that Mehak had married in June last year. She had left her rural village to study in London five months after tying the knot and had been working as a carer.

“Mehak used to ring me up every morning,” she said. “However, on Sunday [29 October] I did not receive any call. I thought she must be busy. However, when I did not get a call on Monday, I got panicky.

“I asked my relative, who lives about 150km away from Croydon, to visit Mehak. It was in the evening that he rang me and told me that the London Metropolitan Police had taken Sahil into custody after being charged with murder of Mehak.”

Detective Inspector Laura Semple, of the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, said: “This is a tragic case that has completely devastated a family. In killing his wife, Sharma has robbed her family of a loving daughter for reasons known only to himself.

“While I am aware that nothing can bring Mehak Sharma back to them, I hope that the sentencing will bring some closure to her loved ones.”

If you’re a victim of domestic abuse, or know someone who is, and there’s an emergency that’s ongoing or life is in danger, call 999 now.