A husband who squandered his children’s savings and faced a divorce will spend at least 20 years behind bars after plunging a knife through his hard-working wife’s heart.
Jobless Mikdat Sahpaz, 47, of Carlton Avenue East, Wembley, Middlesex even attempted a clumsy cover-up and staged the ‘discovery’ of his wife’s body in front of their son, 11 and daughter, 13.
He was convicted at the Old Bailey of murdering Elif Orac, 42, (pic.top) a school cook who sold her deli business to spend more time with her children and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a twenty-year minimum recommendation.
Detective Chief Inspector Tim Duffield of the Homicide and Serious Crime Command said: "Mikdat Sahpaz (pic.bottom) not only callously and coldly planned the murder of his wife, but he engineered the evening's events to ensure that his children were present when he supposedly 'discovered' their mother's body.
"Evidence gathered during the investigation exposed a man whose desire was to lead a life very much apart from his family, and who had secretly squandered the children's life savings to fund his selfish indulgencies.
“Sahphaz knew Elif's plans of divorce would bring an abrupt end to this comfortable lifestyle, and he was all too aware that he stood to gain very significant assets upon her death.
"My sympathies go out to Elif Oruc's children as they now have to come to terms with not only their mother's death, but the fact that it was at the hands of their father who now faces life imprisonment."
The court heard police were called by London Ambulance Service at 10 pm on July 9, last year to the family home where a woman was in the kitchen, suffering from a stab wound to the heart. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
The defendant had earlier collected the children and drove to the home address where Elif's car was still parked on the driveway.
He went into the house with the children and put on his slippers before going into the kitchen and finding the body.
He told the children to go outside before calling the police and an ambulance.
Despite things having been removed from the house to indicate that a burglary had taken place, officers found no sign of a forced entry.
Friends of the victim had also told police that the marriage had been unhappy for some time and that Elif was contemplating divorce.
On July 13 police received a tip from a friend of the defendant's, who explained that Sahpaz had asked him for a lift to Wembley on the day of the murder and had later directed him to a secluded area in West Hendon where household items were dumped.
The friend later found a kitchen knife hidden in the rear of his van where Sahpaz had been sitting and the weapon bore Elif's blood.
Sahpaz claimed he had been at a local community centre at the time of the murder, even parking his car awkwardly to draw attention to its presence.
The police found Sahpaz had fresh scratches to his arm, which it is believed were inflicted by Elif as she sought to defend herself during the attack.
He attempted to explain the injuries away by suggesting he had been picking blackberries for an unknown friend.
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