Qingqing Rao (pictured) had been married for less than six months when she was brutally attacked as she walked home from work
A weapons-obsessed sadist who left a City business analyst in a permanent coma after a ‘cowardly and sadistic’ knife attack has been jailed for life.
Barry Peacham, 26, stabbed Qingqing Rao, 29, in the head and between the legs before grabbing her handbag as she walked home through Castle Green Park, Dagenham, east London.
The victim, who was minutes away from her home when she was attacked, remains in a permanent vegetative state and is unlikely to ever recover.
Peacham had waited until Ms Rao walked through the park on her own before pouncing with brutal knife slashes at just after 9.45pm on 13 February.
He tried to distance himself from the savage attack by dumping Ms Rao’s laptop, bank cards and iPhone down drains near the scene of the crime.
But he was so confident nobody had witnessed the attack Peacham that he changed clothes and returned to the park with his girlfriend’s mother’s dog later that night.
Ms Rao was left lying in the park with traumatic brain injuries and stab wounds until a passer by spotted her and called 999 at 9.51pm.
Peacham, who has previous convictions for robbery and possessing offensive weapons, bragged to his friends: ‘I stabbed her multiple times’ days after the attack.
But he denied involvement when prosecutors linked him to the attack through ‘circumstantial evidence’ in what police described as a ‘crime of pure evil.’
Peacham, of no fixed address, was cleared of attempted murder but convicted of the alternative charge of wounding with intent and robbery after an Old Bailey trial last month.
Peacham was found guilty of wounding with intent and robbery after a trial at the Old Bailey. He will serve a minimum of nine years behind bars
Judge Anne Molyneux had adjourned sentence for a risk assessment on Peacham and to consider the danger he posed to the public, adding: ‘Her life was changed forever as a result of this attack.’
Prosecutor Julian Evans said Peacham is highly dangerous and the victim’s life expectancy has been greatly diminished.
Judge Molyneux described Qinging as well liked by her colleagues, a warm hearted and happy person, a partner, a friend and a someone who deeply cared for her family.
She told Peacham: ‘This was a brutal, sadistic and cowardly attack on a lone female making her way home from work – you were a predator and you showed no mercy.
‘The violence you used went way beyond any violence that might have been necessary for a robbery.’
She said Qingqing’s mother described a feeling of ‘permanent shadow’, adding: ‘Your actions have destroyed her life and that if her family.
‘As her mother describes it, ‘a permanent shadow has been planted in my heart.’
Tyrone Belger, defending, said he could offer no real mitigation for Peacham.
But he said he had come from a difficult background riddled with drugs and domestic violence.
‘Although he does have a very bad record his last offence was in 2012 for attacking his then girlfriend,’ he said.
‘THE GOODBYE KISS IS ONE I WILL ALWAYS CHERISH’
Ansgar Wenzel described his wife as ‘a wonderful, warm-hearted and happy girl, always friendly and happy to help anyone who needed her help’
Qing Qing’s husband Ansgar Wenzel said in a statement: ‘On the night of 13th February this year, while on the way back from work, my wife of less than six months, my partner for ten years, my best friend, was brutally assaulted, robbed and stabbed several times a few metres from our home.
‘Since then, she has been in a coma from which she will never wake up from. She was cruelly taken away from me the day before Valentine’s Day, a few days before our ten-year anniversary, for nothing more than her handbag and its contents.
‘Qingqing is a wonderful, warm-hearted and happy girl, always friendly and happy to help anyone who needed her help.
‘Having come from rural China of the 1980s, she told me several times about the hardships she grew up with.
‘Coming from almost nothing, she managed to get into one of the best middle schools in Hunan, her home province.
‘Then, in 2002, she came to the UK, barely speaking any English.
‘After less than three years, she had finished five A-Levels, all in the high 90 per cent, and obtained a place to study mathematics at Imperial College, a remarkable achievement in its own right but all the more impressive considering where she started out from.
‘It was there that I first met her and at some point in second year, we started dating.
‘I would not miss a single day of the almost ten years we have shared.
‘I will always remember how she smiled and turned her head laughing in the morning of 13th February when she left for work; the goodbye kiss is one I will always cherish.
‘I would like to thank the police, CPS and the criminal justice system for their efforts during this investigation.
‘While it won’t help Qingqing or improve her condition and, while I am still in a state of purgatory, I am delighted that justice has been served and finally, I also hope that at some point he stops being ‘a coward’ and takes some responsibility for what he has done.’
Detective Chief Inspector Gary Holmes, of the Homicide and Major Crime Command, said the injuries Peacham caused were ‘truly shocking.’
‘His intention was to rob her that evening but the level of force used against her was horrific and completely unnecessary,’ he said.
‘This was a crime of pure evil.
‘She will never recover from her injuries and will need specialist care for the rest of her life.
‘It is incredibly sad for a young woman who had a promising career and had been married less than six months.
‘Tragically she was only two or three minutes from her home and her husband when Peacham struck.
‘He then clumsily tried to cover his tracks but actions and subsequent lies quickly caught him out and led to his swift arrest following some excellent detective work by my team.’
‘Prior to that was the incident of robbery seven years ago which he says that he was not involved in.
‘Although he has been associated with knife crime, using it to threaten and point he has never faced a wounding charge.’
Mr Belger added that a life sentence must be ‘one of a last resort’ and asked the judge to consider any sentence that fell just short of it.
Ms Rao left work in Finsbury Square, central London, at 8.40pm and took a tube to Upney underground station.
She then took a bus to Castle Green before crossing the park to get to her home.
Mr Evans said: ‘It was dark and she walked alone from the bus stop towards her home which was close by.
‘The journey took her into Castle Green. As she walked through the park on her own she was viciously attacked by an assailant who was armed with a bladed weapon as she made her way along the path about half way between the bus stop and home.
‘She was stabbed on the side of her head and in the area of her vagina.’
Ms Rao was treated in hospital for many months and is now receiving 24 hour care at a nursing home.
He continued: ‘She is in a persistent vegetative state from which it is unlikely she will ever recover.’
‘The attacker not only intended to kill her but also robbed her and possessions belonging to her – her iPhone, bank cards and driving licence were found inside drains on the streets in the surrounding area.’
Peacham, of no fixed abode, denied but was convicted of wounding with intent and robbery.
He was jailed for life with a minimum of nine years for the charge of wounding and 12 years for robbery which is to run alongside.