A jealous
bodybuilder who strangled and battered his transgender wife to death
after walking in on her having sex with a client has been jailed for
more than 14 years.
Joaquin
Gomez-Hernandez, 24, burst into tears after seeing his 33 year-old wife
Vanessa Santillan cavorting with the male stranger in their marital
bed.
The
Mexican told his partner ‘it’s like you don’t take me seriously’ before
storming out of the flat in Fulham, south west London - only to return
and brutally beat her to death.
Joaquin
Gomez-Hernandez, 24 (left), has been jailed for a minimum of 14 years
after brutally beating his 33 year-old wife Vanessa Santillan (right) to
death when he caught her cavorting with a client in their marital bed
Gomez-Hernandez then used Ms Santillan’s cash to splash out £400 on two prostitutes at a nearby brothel.
He later pretended to discover the half-naked body of his wife on the floor of their flat and flagged down an ambulance.
The killer told police he had gone out and left his wife in bed before suggesting she had been murdered by a client.
But jurors at the Old Bailey unanimously convicted him of murder after deliberating for 17 hours.
The
Common Sergeant of London, Judge Richard Marks QC, today sentenced him
to life imprisonment with a minimum of 14-and-a-half years before
parole.
Judge Marks told him: ‘You and you alone know what happened that afternoon that caused you to lose your temper and attack her.
‘I am satisfied that jealousy on your part must have played a role in all of this.
‘You left her naked from the waist down and you made no attempt to summon any medical or other assistance.
‘You
then visited two prostitutes to whom you paid £400 for sex, all at a
time when you knew what you had just done to your wife.
‘This was on any view a sustained attack and your subsequent conduct that afternoon was callous in the extreme.’
The Old Bailey heard Gomez-Hernandez was nicknamed ‘Coco’ and met his wife in his native Mexico in March 2013.
Transgender
Ms Santillan was beaten to death by her bodybuilder husband after she
had sex with a client in front of him at their flat in Fulham, south
west London. The pair had met in Mexico in 2013 and later married
Ms Santillan's body was found on the floor of the couple's flat in Romily Court, Fulham, west London (pictured)
They got married in Mexico City seven months later before travelling first to Paris and then the UK in January this year.
Miss
Santillan was described by prosecutor Brendan Finucane QC as ‘a
post-operative transgender’ who was working as a female escort
throughout her marriage to Gomez-Hernandez.
Friends
claimed Miss Santillan controlled the relationship and Gomez-Hernandez
had to ask her for money to buy clothes and food because he did not
work.
One witness said Gomez-Hernandez ‘was very jealous and tried to exert some power and control but did not succeed’.
On
the evening of 27 March this year, the couple went out clubbing with a
gay man dressed as a woman and two transgender female friends.
They
then returned to Miss Santillan’s flat at Romily Court off Landridge
Road in the early hours of the morning to continue drinking wine and
champagne.
At around 5am the victim was contacted by a male client via the backpage.com website.
He arrived at around 6am and went to the bedroom with Miss Santillan while her friends and husband remained in the lounge.
Jurors were told that Miss Santillan
controlled the relationship and unemployed Gomez-Hernandez had to ask
her for money to buy any clothes and food
Mr
Finucane told the court: ‘While engaged in sexual activity the
defendant [Gomez-Hernandez] came into the room and was glaring at them.
‘The deceased said or looked as if to say "Not now". There was brief conversation and the defendant said he wanted his keys.’
Gomez-Hernandez then left the room but appeared to his friends to become ‘more serious’.
When
Miss Santillan emerged from the bedroom with the client, he started to
cry and told her: ‘It’s like you don’t take me seriously.’
Gomez then left the flat at around 7am to continue drinking with friends.
The
prosecution suggested that Miss Santillan was murdered some time before
2.52pm when Gomez-Hernandez was captured on CCTV walking away from
Romily Court with a blue bag.
He visited Sainsbury’s in Fulham and appeared to have scratches on his cheek and a large amount of money in his pocket.
Gomez-Hernandez then visited a brothel in Harrington Gardens in Fulham at 4.45pm and had sex with two escorts.
He then returned to his friends’ flat and claimed that his wife was not answering the door.
The
group watched as he climbed through a window into the flat before
telling them: ‘Vanessa is on the floor, something has happened to her.’
When he let them in, they found her lying next to the sofa.
Gomez-Hernandez flagged down an ambulance at 9.26pm and was arrested on suspicion of murder by police at 9.45pm.
Miss Santillan was lying half-naked on the floor in the lounge next to a used condom and broken false fingernails.
She
had suffered blunt force trauma and bruising to her head as well as a
fractured voice box caused by manual strangulation, although the
pathologist concluded strangulation was not the cause of her death.
A total of £13,000 - the proceeds from her escort work - was also discovered in the flat but her phone was never recovered.
The post-mortem examination revealed Ms Santillan had suffered ‘blunt force trauma to her head and neck'
The
next day Gomez-Hernandez told police in interview: ‘I last saw my wife
alive yesterday afternoon. She was in bed. I left the flat to go to the
shops.
‘I tried to return several hours later but my wife didn’t answer the door.’
He added: ‘I did not murder my wife but I fear that a client of hers may have done. She did see cleints at our flat.’
Gomez-Hernandez claimed that a bruise on his chest was a love bite from his wife when they had sex two days before her death.
He
also said that the scratches on his cheek were caused by a Venetian
blind when he climbed through the window of the flat and found the body.
‘I did not cause those injuries to her and I am completely devastated by her death,’ he added.
The
prosecutor told the court that ‘tensions in their relationship as to
her attitude towards him in relation to her work, led to a serious
physical assault upon the deceased.’
Gomez-Hernandez had denied murder but was convicted by a jury at the Old Bailey.
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