Man convicted of murdering partner in Kilburn

A man has been convicted of murdering his partner at her flat in west London, following an investigation by the Metropolitan Police Service.

A jury at Southwark Crown Court found Steven Clark, 50 (02.03.1974), of Bravington Road, Kilburn, guilty of the murder of 80-year-old Ursula Uhlemann at her home in Queens Park in March 2024.

DCI Wayne Jolley, from the Met's Specialist Crime South unit - who led the investigation - said:"Ms Uhlemann’s life was taken in appalling circumstances. In light of Clark’s conviction, our thoughts are with those that knew her.

"Clark had consistently lied about his role in Ms Uhlemann's murder, denying any involvement whatsoever. I would like to thank the numerous witnesses who assisted investigators in building a picture of the events leading up to the killing."

The court heard that, just after 03:00hrs on Wednesday, 20 March, 2024, a London Ambulance Service crew attended Ms Uhlemann's flat – inside a retirement housing complex – following a 999 call by Clark. They found Ms Uhlemann unresponsive on the floor of her living room. Despite the efforts of paramedics to resuscitate her, she was pronounced dead at 04:11hrs.

Investigators were alerted of the death by paramedics and attended the flat. They noted that Ms Uhlemann had suffered numerous injuries.

Clark was present at the scene when the police arrived. He told them he had been staying at Ms Uhlemann's flat that night, and had found her unconscious. Investigators noted inconsistencies in Clark's account, and, as a result, he was arrested and charged with murder on Friday, 22 March, 2024.

Clark claimed that, after arriving at his partner's flat on Monday, 18 March, 2024, he had left and returned on several occasions. However, after making CCTV enquiries, investigators established that he had never left the flat at any point in the two days preceding her death.

Officers were able to establish that Clark had been abusive towards the victim on previous occasions. A postmortem later determined that Ms Uhlemann had died from neck compression.

Clark will be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on Friday, 21 February.