Nisha Patel-Nasri - Police Investigation

Police Investigation

As expensive limousines were parked outside her home the police initially tried to understand whether this could have attracted the murderer. Police also considered what could have caused her to go outside her house that night, carrying a knife. The murder weapon was found but forensic analysis failed to match the DNA on it to any person on the national database.

Patel-Nasri's widower, Fadi Nasri, was arrested on 27 February 2007 as a suspect in the case.

The murder was examined on the BBC television programme Crimewatch Solved on 6 August 2008. The programme revealed how Nasri came to be linked to the murder, despite having an alibi placing him nowhere near the scene. Through his mobile phone records on the day, police investigators linked Nasri to Roger Leslie, a known criminal and heroin dealer; to Jason Jones, a nightclub bouncer with several previous convictions; and to Tony Emmanuel, a nightclub promoter.

Through a CCTV camera near the scene where the knife was found, it was concluded that it was Emmanuel's car, a silver Audi, from which the murder weapon had been dumped. Although the number-plate could not be made out, it was identified as being Jones' car by the fact it had a non-standard roof aerial and a defective left rear number-plate light. Emmanuel could also be placed near the scene on the night of the murder. Emmanuel admitted that he had been hired by Jones to drive him to the house on the pretense of doing a drugs deal, but insisted he did not know that Jones was going to commit a murder. Through statements from Emmanuel attributed to Jones about money being counted inside the house on the night of the murder, it was concluded that Jones must have been inside and had been provided with a key. It was concluded that Jones had stabbed Patel-Nasri inside and she had staggered outside as Jones fled.

After being presented with the phone records linking the men, with investigators initially thinking the murder was carried out by Leslie as part of a feud, Nasri confessed to having paid Leslie to commit the murder. Through subsequent investigation, the police concluded the motive for the crime was monetary; through an extravagant lifestyle and a failing business, Nasri had accumulated six-figure debts. The couple had taken mutual life insurance policies three months before, which paid out £100,000. Additionally, following her death, Nasri attempted to claim his wife's entitlement to half of the equity of her parents' house from her brother, amounting to nearly £400,000.