Yahoo News City banker who murdered escort with pestle in 'cocaine-fuelled killing' is jailed for 19 years
A City banker who bludgeoned a high-class escort to death with a pestle on her 29th birthday has been jailed for at least 19 years.
Zahid Naseem hit Christina Abbotts 13 times on the back of the head with the ceramic kitchen implement in a vicious attack after taking cocaine and drinking champagne.
The financial consultant claimed he hit Christina in self-defence during the attack in May, fearing he was being strangled to death in a sex game gone wrong.
But a jury in Lewes Crown Court found the 48-year-old guilty of murder after four hours of deliberations.
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Ms Abbotts, who was born in the West Midlands and was described in court as a “socialite”, advertised her services on site AdultWork.com under the pseudonym Tilly Pexton, but her family thought she worked in IT.
Naseem was working for Toronto-Dominion Bank’s London office when he found her profile offering overnight rates from £1,000.
The pair had been seen in public on the evening of May 24 when Naseem met Ms Abbotts in Crawley before they spent the night together.
CCTV showed him kissing her on the forehead in Asda as they bought her favourite champagne Veuve-Clicquot.
Ms Abbotts’ friends raised the alarm when she failed to turn up to her birthday party in South Kensington the following day he worried friends raised the alarm.
Police found her body when they broke down the door of the flat in the early hours of the morning on May 26.
They found Naseem pretending to be unconscious in the next room, lying on a sofa naked apart from a dressing gown, surrounded by half-drunk glasses of alcohol, drugs paraphernalia and underwear.
Paramedics were convinced that the freelance risk management consultant, who earned up to £250,000 a year and had previously worked for investment bank Merrill Lynch, was play-acting but he only woke up fully when he was arrested in hospital, claiming he had no idea what had happened.
He also told police he could not remember the incident.
But prosecutor Christopher Tehrani said Naseem stayed in the flat for 12 hours after Ms Abbotts’ death, drinking, taking drugs and sending pornographic pictures and videos to other escorts.
In court, Naseem admitted hitting Ms Abbotts but claimed it was in self-defence. He also said a “red mist” may have come over him.
The father of two told the court he turned to escorts when the “whirlwind romance” with his partner fizzled out and they grew apart.
The parents of Ms Abbotts paid tribute to their “loving, caring” daughter and said the picture painted of her in court did not fully reflect who she was.
