A mentally disturbed and angry man strangled his

A mentally disturbed and angry man strangled his wife then
blew his house apart in a failed suicide bid, the Old Bailey heard.

Gurdev Lahli, 36, tried to gas himself after an argument with his
wife Narinder turned into a killing frenzy.

When the non-toxic North Sea gas had had no effect after more than
two hours, he struck a match and turned the kitchen of his Hounslow
home into a fireball.

Firemen who rushed to the scene found the corpse of Lahli’s 35-
year-old wife as they sifted through the debris.

At the Old Bailey on Friday Lahli admitted manslaughter on the
grounds of diminished responsibility.

Sentence was adjourned while a place in a secure mental hospital
is found for him.

The court heard that the Lahli’s arranged marriage in 1981 had been
happy to start with but had been marred in later years by his
increasing argumentativeness and obsessive jealousy.

Matters came to a head in June last year when Lahli was told he was
going to be made redundant from his labouring job, said Mr Richard
Horwell, prosecuting.

On June 27, he left work early and returned to the Mornington
Crescent home he shared with his mother, wife and their two young
children.

He later told police they had had a fight shortly before midnight
which ended with him throttling her with all his force.

‘I held her throat and tried to strangle her, hands at first, but
then I saw a skipping rope and used it,’ he said.

‘She was struggling.

She fell to the floor.

‘I didn’t have any intention to kill her at the time.

I didn’t have
anything in my head that I wanted to do that sort of thing.

‘
He said he tried to gas himself.

After sitting in the gas-filled
room for two hours without ill effect, he struck a match and caused a
massive explosion which blew out the front and back windows.

The first one on the scene was a PC who bravely rushed into the
house to save the children he could hear screaming inside, counsel
said.

‘He noticed a strong smell of gas.

The two children, aged six and
10, were on the stairs screaming and were carried outside.

‘The PC returned and saw Lahli in the hallway.

He was suffering
from burns and said he couldn’t walk.

The PC carried him out.

‘He then went upstairs and rescued the Lahli’s 67-year-old mother.

‘
Firemen picking through the debris in the kitchen came across the
grisly scene of Mrs Lahli’s body with the skipping cord
still tied around her neck.

The defendant was rushed to hospital with 10 per cent burns.

He was later transferred to a mental hospital, where several
top psychiatrists all agreed he was mentally ill.

In court, he appeared confused as he stammered out his guilty plea
to manslaughter.

Charges of murder and reckless arson were not proceeded with.

Judge Neil Denison QC adjourned sentence while a place in a secure
mental hospital was found for Lahli, adding: ‘The only question is
whether the defendant should be detained without limit of time.

‘
ENDS
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