Man who murdered his prostitute wife after seeing her making out with a client is jailed

A man who killed his escort wife after watching her have sex with a client has been found guilty of murder. 

24-year-old Joaquin Gomez Hernandez of Landridge Road, Fulham, was sentenced to 14 and a half years imprisonment at the Old Bailey today after he killed his 33-year-old wife Vanessa Santillan. 

She was found dead at her home in Romily Court, Fulham, on March 28 and a post-mortem examination held at Fulham Mortuary said the cause of death was "blunt force trauma injuries to the head and neck". 

The court heard how Gomez-Hernandez dialled 999 and flagged down an ambulance outside her flat on March 28. 

Paramedics found Miss Santillan lying half-naked on the floor in the lounge next to a used condom and broken false fingernails and she was pronounced dead at the scene, reports Get West London. 

Gomez Hernandez and his wife had been out the night before she was found dead on March 27 with friends before returning to a flat in Fulham. 

They were drinking with friends at the flat in Romily Court, off Landridge Road, when she was contacted by a male client via the backpage.com website. 

'Arriving at around 6am, the client went to the bedroom with Miss Santillan while her friends and husband remained in the lounge, the court heard. 

Mr Finucane told the court: "While engaged in sexual activity the defendant [Gomez-Hernandez] came into the room and was glaring at them. "There was brief conversation and the defendant said he wanted his keys." The court heard that by 6.31am, the client had left Miss Santillan's flat.

Around half an hour later, Gomez Hernandez also left the flat after friends saw him crying in the kitchen. One witness described to the court how his mood then changed and he became more serious. 

The court heard that Gomez Hernandez was unemployed and relied on his wife's income to buy clothes and food. According to friends, he resented the dependency he had on his partner and feared losing her. 

Gomez Hernandez admitted to having an argument with his wife later that day when they were alone together in their flat. The prosecuting case against him claimed this had resulted in him hitting Vanessa to death. 

They went on to describe how Gomez Hernandez then left the flat at about 2.45pm after he took cash from the deceased and used it to buy a new phone and pay for a visit to escorts for sex. 

He returned to his friends' flat several hours later and claimed that he had tried to call his wife but she was not answering.

When he eventually did enter the flat, he suggested to police and friends that a client must have killed her. However, phone records showed that he had not made any phone calls to her and in fact he had taken both her phone and his with him when he left the flat in the afternoon. 

Gomez Hernandez also had fresh scratches on his face which he could not sensibly explain. He was arrested on suspicion of murder and later charged.