The Royal Court has sentenced Birmingham University student Nagaraja Kumar Nalluri, 25, to life imprisonment for killing 23-year-old Samrajya Jyothirmai Vempala, on May 6. Both hailed from Andhra Pradesh.
It was a gruesome murder, the Court said. After she died following severe head injuries, Nalluri wrote, 'I love you' in his own blood. He must serve a minimum of 25 years before he can become eligible for parole
Nalluri, who denied murdering Jyothirmai, had claimed that a masked intruder had forced his way into the house and attacked two of them, according to a report in the 'Birmingham Evening Mail'.
Judge Melbourne Inman said: "On the evidence before the jury you struck her at least 12 times to the head. Undoubtedly many more blows were struck against her."
“Nalluri took a photo of the victim when she was either dead or dying and carried out a sexual assault on her,” the judge said adding that the sexual assault increased the depravity of the killing.
Prosecutor Michael Burrows said both the 23-year-old victim and the defendant had trained together in India before coming to the UK in September 2007 for Masters Degree in health studies at the Wolverhampton University.