Grindr cheat pharmacist 'watched strangulation video with wife'

Jessica Patel had found gay porn on her husband's phone in 2017, the court heard

A man accused of choking his wife to death with a Tesco bag has told jurors it was "ironic" the pair watched a video about strangulation weeks before she died.

Mitesh Patel, 37, is accused of murdering Jessica, 34, at the couple's Middlesbrough home in May.

The pharmacist told Teesside Crown Court the couple had watched the YouTube video, "How long someone takes to die from strangulation", together.

He denies the killing.

Mr Patel told jurors he had often thought about the couple viewing the video.

He said: "For the last six and a half months, every day in that prison cell, one of the many, many things I have thought is, 'how ironic was this?'.

"The cause of Jessica's death was that, and anyone sat there would be thinking, 'What on earth is going on?'."

Teesside Crown Court heard Mr Patel, who used the dating app Grindr, wanted to start a new life with a male doctor.

'Gay Asian Man'

The prosecution alleges he murdered his wife to allow him to claim a £2m life insurance payment and start a new life in Australia.

Mr Patel told jurors he loved his wife, but he should have been honest and not married her, describing himself at one point as a "gay Asian man".

Mitesh Patel told the court he began a sexual relationship with a male doctor in 2012

The court also heard the couple wanted to have children and underwent three cycles of IVF treatment, despite concerns Mrs Patel had about texts and gay porn she found on her husband's phone in 2017.

Nicholas Campbell QC, prosecuting, said the accused had also made internet searches about Hindu funerals for a married woman, insulin overdoses and coroners.

The court heard Mrs Patel had told her husband's brother of her concerns that he was having an affair with a male doctor called Amit Patel.

The defendant said: "I cannot explain how I felt, it was the fear of being exposed as an Asian gay man, and I was going to let Jess down.

"One thing is the truth, I have not anything do to with killing Jessica."

The trial continues.