(From top) Lakhvinder Cheema, Lakhvir Kaur Singh

London, Feb. 11: A 45-year-old mother of three, Lakhvir Kaur Singh, has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommendation that sheserve at least 23 years before being considered for parole for “curry-poisoning” to death her lover of 16 years.

Lakhvir murdered Lakhvinder Cheema, 39, who had unceremoniously dumped her for a girl of 21, Gurjeet Choongh, whom he was desperate to marry.

Judge Paul Worsley told Lakhvir today: “You were not just a spurned lover, you did not simply explode in anger at your rejection. You set about a cold and calculating revenge.”

Gurjeet said she could never forgive Lakhvir for taking away the man she was about to marry. “I believe she should be given the sternest sentence possible so that it deters anyone else from even considering doing this to another person. I did not speak English, my family were not with me to take care of me and I felt completely alone and isolated. I believe it will affect me for the rest of my life.”

“Preparations for the wedding were under way, here as well as in India where my family lives. His death was a major shock for me. Even though I knew him only three-and-a-half months, he had a very important place in my life. Now my life without him is extremely hard.”

Lakhvir, who could not bear to lose Cheema with whom she had been carrying on secretly although they were related by marriage, slipped into his house in Feltham, west London, headed straight for the fridge and laced a plastic tupperware containing chicken curry with aconite, a deadly toxin known as Queen of Poisons.

She still had a key and knew Cheema would be at work but was spotted by a lodger.

Lakhvir, who has now been christened the “curry poisoner” by the British media, is believed to have acquired the aconite, an extract from a plant with a beautiful blue flower, during a three-week trip to India.

On the night of January 27 last year — as Lakhvinder and Gurjeet discussed their forthcoming St. Valentine’s Day marriage — they tucked into the curry over dinner.

Lakhvinder, who had the inappropriate nickname of “Lucky”, liked the curry so much he had a second helping. Gurjeet was probably saved because she took a more modest helping.

After being rushed to Middlesex Hospital, Lakhvinder was dead within an hour. His new girlfriend remained in a coma in intensive for two days but survived. Before being taken to hospital, Lakhvinder was able to dial emergency on 999 and pin what had happened on “my ex-girlfriend”.

Over the past month, the tale of love, passion, illicit sex, betrayal and murder by poison has unfolded at the Old Bailey. Agatha Christie would probably have shaken her head and dismissed the plot as too far fetched.

The jury’s work is not yet done. It was sitting today, deciding whether Lakhvir had a trial run in December when she had allegedly tried to poison Cheema — he was taken to hospital on that occasion but doctors could not work out precisely what was wrong with him.

Lakhvir does have a husband as well but he is a cancer patient who was abroad and not much involved in what was going on between his wife and Cheema.

It is not clear whether Cheema led his mistress on. She said he had talked her out of divorcing her husband. What is certain is that Cheema flipped after meeting Gurjeet, less than half Lakhvir’s age, and wanted to marry her at any cost — and have children.

This, Lakhvir, who felt betrayed, was determined to stop at any cost. She bombarded Cheema with love text messages, appealing to him to remember old times and not abandon her.

Ed Brown, Queen’s Counsel, for the prosecution, told the court: “It was all changing and an important part of this defendant’s life was turned upside down and into turmoil. The 16 years of the love affair was about to disappear. All the hopes and aspirations, however unrealistic, were evaporating before her very eyes.”

The court also heard an account of a showdown between the old mistress and the new lover.

According to what has now emerged in legal proceedings, Gurjeet said: “I knew she was jealous of my relationship with Lakhvinder. I told her not to interfere in our lives any longer. I told her to forget everything that had gone on in the past. She said, ‘I cannot forget the feelings that I have.’ I tried to reason with her quite a lot but it had no effect on her.”

Gurjeet’s words went like a knife through Lakhvir: “That relationship is now ended because he is now engaged to me.”

As the wedding approached, there were more tearful showdowns, with Lakhvir being urged to “forget Lucky”.

On the fateful night, said Gurjeet, “Lucky ate more than I. After that, he had second helpings. Lucky said to me, ‘I am not feeling very well. My face has become numb and when I touch it, I cannot feel it.’”

Gurjeet had a shower and then said she began experiencing similar symptoms. “He said that everything seemed to be going dark. He could not see anything and was losing feelings in his body. He was touching his tongue and could not feel anything. He was having to support himself. He said, ‘I think this problem is because of the food we have eaten.’ I was feeling the same. Everything was going dark. I began to feel dizzy. It was difficult to stand up. My tummy was hurting.”

Suspicious that they had been poisoned, Cheema rang for an ambulance and told the operator: “Someone put poison in our food ... she is my ex-girlfriend.”

Police took away the contaminated curry and later found the poison among herbs in Lakhvir’s coat pocket and in her handbag. She was acquitted of the charge of trying to murder Gurjeet but found guilty of causing her grievous bodily harm.

After her arrest, Lakhvir tried to blame her brother-in-law, Varinder Pal Singh, for the death. But this was convincing because she had been spotted by a lodger tampering with the curry in the fridge.

Detective inspector Tony Bishop, who led the inquiry, said: “This was a murder by a woman who could not accept that her lover had found happiness with someone else and planned to get married. The poison that (Lakhvir Kaur) Singh used caused appalling symptoms meaning that the last hours of Lucky’s life were extremely traumatic and must have been terrifying.”