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Murderer of Hindu priest gets life term

Shyam Bhatia
India Abroad Correspondent in London

The murderer of a Hindu priest has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a judge at the Nottingham crown court.

Heroin addict Dean Riddell had earlier admitted stabbing Harish Purohit 16 times in the back and neck before robbing him, but claimed he acted in self-defence after the priest tried to rape him.

But the jury ignored his plea of mitigating circumstances and found him guilty after deliberating for just under three hours.

Before passing the sentence on Monday, Justice Hughes said, "There was some altercation during which you stabbed Mr Purohit. The jury has found that it was neither self-defence nor provocation -- it was with a knife you carried habitually as a weapon."

Purohit, whose family migrated to Britain from Kenya, had been a priest at the Shree Shakti Mandir temple in Leicester and was well-known throughout the country as one of the few priests available to officiate at Hindu weddings.

When his body was discovered at an empty family-owned property in Leicester City centre, the local police was initially concerned that he might have been the victim of a racial attack.

But those concerns turned to shock when police discovered Purohit was a practising homosexual and was well-known in the local gay community.

Close members of his family, including his solicitor wife, confirmed his homosexuality.

During the trial, prosecution lawyers went so far as to describe him as a 'promiscuous' homosexual. Chief Prosecutor Joan Butler told the court how Riddell had met Purohit before and was aware that he was an 'extremely promiscuous homosexual' who would pay for sex.

"We say Riddell was picked up in Leicester by the deceased and there was going to be some sort of sexual activity for which Mr Purohit was going to pay," she said.

The prosecution team said that after killing Purohit, Riddell tried to cover his tracks by setting fire to the property. The fire failed to take hold and neighbours alerted Purohit's father and his youngest brother about the smoke emanating from the house.

It was then that they found the priest stabbed to death near the front door. Two weeks later Riddell was arrested.

Since Riddell's conviction Purohit's parents have issued a statement that reads, "We have put our full trust in the British justice system and have been given justice. We, and the community, have lost a hero who can never ever be replaced."

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