A man has been charged with the murder of a woman who was stabbed to death at her home in Marylebone nearly 30 years ago.
Marina Koppell, 39, was found having been knifed repeatedly in a “frenzied attack” at her ground floor flat in York Mansions, Chiltern Street, but her case was left unsolved.
She was found in the bedroom by her husband after he struggled to get in contact with her on August 8, 1994. She had been stabbed many times with a broad-bladed kitchen knife, police said.
They added the Columbian-born woman had been in the UK working as a masseuse for 15 years until her death. In the weeks after her death the Met Police described her as ‘upmarket’ prostitute.
A Crimewatch appeal at the time reconstructed her murder with police saying she had advertised for clients in local papers and phone boxes.
They retraced her last movements going to a bank and chatting with a neighbour.
A Met spokesman said at the time: “It was a frenzied attack. She died of multiple stab wounds. The manner in which she was attacked suggests that it was more than just a quarrel or a falling out.”
A bloodied blue tablecloth was recovered by officers under a car in the street outside the scene with a cash point card missing from her flat. An early mobile phone and a distinct titanium bracelet were also declared missing.
Sandip Patel, 50, of Finchley Road, NW8, was charged on Thursday, 9 March. He will appear in custody at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
Scotland Yard says the charge comes following a review of the investigation by the Met’s Special Casework Team who review unsolved homicide cases.
