Woman killed 'at random'

A young mother "in the wrong place at the wrong time" died after being deliberately run over by a complete stranger, the Old Bailey heard yesterday.

Her killer, a former chemist, Nilesh Gadher, was sent to a mental hospital without limit of time. In rare proceedings under the Mental Health Act, two juries considered his case. The first decided his mental state and the second whether or not he had committed murder.

The first panel took only moments to agree Gadher was not fit to plead to the charge after hearing he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia.The second also quickly agreed he was responsible for the murder of Sanita Kaura, 27.

She was walking across a car park in Hounslow, west London, last September, moments after enrolling on a dental nursing course. Gadher, recently released from a mental hospital after a suicide bid, revved his car engine and deliberately drove at her at high speed.

the court heard.

She was thrown in the air and died at the scene, said Richard Horwell, prosecuting.

"She was a complete stranger, it was a random killing. The victim could, quite literally, have been anybody in the car park. Poor Mrs Kaura was in the wrong place at the wrong time and her death is a great tragedy," he added.

Gadher, 37, of Harris Close, Hounslow, was hemmed in by other drivers at the scene. He admitted he had deliberately driven at his victim.

The court heard he qualified as a chemist at Bradford University and set up in practice but in 1986 he suffered mental problems, his marriage collapsed and he was struck of the pharmacists' register.

He was treated in mental hospitals in 1986, 1991, and in 1993 for his condition which manifested itself in uncooperative behaviour and delusions. He was admitted again last year after his suicide bid.

The court heard Gadher suffered from delusions that people were coming into his room at night and stealing things.

From the witness box, he told the first jury people were stealing songs he had written and playing them without permission.

Gadher was "obsessive" about his songs, which he claimed were worth millions.

He alleged Mrs Kaura had stolen a song cassette from his car, but this was not true, the court heard.

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