Published: 7 January, 2014

A “MANIPULATIVE” millionaire who killed his pregnant wife and their unborn baby and disposed of the body seven years ago was jailed for life at the Old Bailey today (Tuesday).

Robert Ekaireb, 39, will serve a minimum of 22 years for the murder of Lihua Cao in October 2006.

The 27-year-old Chinese former waitress and lap dancer went missing from their Hampstead flat just three months after marrying the wealthy property magnate worth £65million. Her body has never been found.

Justice Jeremy Cooke called Ekaireb a “callous, manipulative, selfish hypocrite” for the double killing that took place after a short loss of temper.

He said: “This was the murder of a pregnant wife. A woman pregnant with a viable foetus when you killed her. In that sense you ended two lives.”

Lihua’s brother Li Bin, who lives in Denmark and attended the sentencing, said in a victim impact statement on behalf of the Cao family that his sister was “such a loving, warm and considerate person, always helping her family” and that they feel their lives have been “destroyed” by her death.

He said: “It has been very painful and difficult for us. It is hard to sleep and when we do we are haunted by nightmares.”

Ekaireb, who has a long-term partner, a 2-year-old daughter and another baby on the way, was found guilty just before Christmas following a 10-week trial at the Central Criminal Court. 

Investigating officer Detective Inspector Andy Manning, from the Homicide and Major Crime Command, said: “We will never know how Lihau died or what happened to her body, which is a tragedy for her family and her unborn child. Despite this, the jury has today found overwhelming evidence that Ekaireb killed his wife and it is satisfying, seven years after her disappearance, to reach this conviction today and provide some answers to Lihau’s family.”

He added: “Lihau clearly wasn’t happy in her marriage – Ekaireb was controlling, restricted her access to money despite his immense wealth and often lost his temper. She had spoken to friends and family about leaving him and there is evidence she was preparing to do so for good. Ekaireb lost control and killed her as they argued on October 23, 2006 at their flat. He then disposed of her body, cleared up the flat and carried on with his life. But detectives continued to work tirelessly to piece together the key events of the last few months of Lihau’s life to provide indisputable evidence that Ekaireb had killed her.”

Lihau Cao, also known as Li or Lisa Ekaireb, was last seen at the end of October 2006 when she was four months pregnant.

She had been living with Ekaireb in a £850,000 one-bed flat in the Mount Vernon Estate, off Frognal Rise in Hampstead, after they met in Ireland in 2005 when she was working as a lap dancer after leaving China in 2002.

Her family reported her missing in February 2007 and a missing persons inquiry began before being referred to the Homicide and Serious Crime Command in 2009.

Throughout the trial the court heard from her friends and family that she had been deeply unhappy with Ekaireb who was controlling and prone to violent mood swings and had spoken to doctors about terminating her pregnancy. 

In August 2006 Ekaireb was arrested for assaulting Lihau and possession of a flick-knife following an argument in their car, though she was persuaded to withdraw the charges.

Police uncovered evidence that suggested Lihau may have been planning to leave her husband who was increasingly paranoid and jealous over her former job as a lap dancer and had booked a lie detector test for her the month she died, convinced the baby might not be his.

Lihua attempted to open a new bank account and it was suspected by Ekaireb that she was still working as a dancer behind his back to earn extra cash.

On October 23 she made four calls to her brother, Li Bin, and said that she was unhappy with Ekaireb. She was not heard of again. 

Seven days later Ekaireb called his ex-girlfriend in an attempt to rekindle their relationship.

At the end of October, Lihau’s sister in China received a call in very poor Chinese saying Lihau had given birth to a baby girl – when in fact Lihau would have been less than five months pregnant at that time.

Nationwide hospital enquiries failed to find any records of the birth of her baby expected in March 2007, with no activity on her bank card or mobile phone. 

Taken as a whole, the evidence led officers to conclude that Ekaireb had murdered Lihau on October 23, 2006, by losing control and lashing out.

Panicked, he then rolled her body up in the bedroom carpet and put it in the car boot to dispose of.

A security officer at the premises saw the carpet being carried out late at night before the car left. 

It is believed Ekaireb used his links to an organised criminal network to dispose of Lihau’s body.

Ekaireb never returned to the flat, registering it with an estate agent for re-letting and hiring a firm to refit carpets and clean the property.

He was arrested and charged in June 2012.