Love triangle killer jailed

An "evil" woman was jailed for life today for killing her lover in a love triangle.

Aruna Joshi showed no emotion as she was sentenced at the Old Bailey.

The court was told that popular Tahir "Tony" Butt, 49, was lured to her home where he was strangled with a cable.

Joshi, 43, had enrolled her new boyfriend Manoj Mistry, 37, to ambush him because she felt he was in the way.

After the killing Mr Butt was driven away in his Mitsubishi Pajero car, which was later found on fire in a country lane in Bushey, Herts.

Mistry and his brothers then set about laying a false trail to suggest Mr Butt
had been killed by a drugs gang.

Mistry, a mechanic, and his brother Millan, 32, unemployed, both of Eaton Avenue, Wembley, north-west London, were also jailed for life.

Younger brother Kiran, a 29-year-old postman of the same address, was jailed for three-and-a-half years for perverting justice.

Joshi, of Dagmar Avenue, Wembley, and the brothers had denied the offences but were found guilty at two trials.

Outside court, DCI Julian Headon said: "Aruna Joshi planned this cold blooded killing.

"She is an evil, scheming woman. Mr Butt had been kind to her and her sons, taking them on holiday to America.

"She knew how much his family relied on Mr Butt. She is one of the most evil, vindictive women I have come across.

"She took Mistry as her new lover and Mr Butt was in the way. She fuelled the flames by lying to Mistry about being mistreated by Mr Butt."

Mr Butt was dead within hours of going to Joshi's house on March 17, 1999.

Mr Butt was the owner of the successful Karahi Queen restaurant in High Road, Wembley, and a wealthy businessman who ran a troupe of Asian dancing girls.
Mistry and his brothers then set about misleading the police with letters, claimed to be from a Chinese drugs gang, saying he owed them £1million.

The burning body and letters laid a false trail. They were designed to send the police on a wild goose chase, the court was told.

Telephone records and forensic tests cast suspicion on Joshi and the Mistry brothers.

Joshi's son then told police that Mr Butt, a married man with two children, had been at the house just before he heard an argument and a thud.

During the course of the investigation, which was featured on television's Crimewatch programme, officers discounted other theories for the killing.