A man has been jailed for life for the murder of a wealthy restaurant owner whose face was bound with parcel tape to form a "death mask" during a robbery.
Sun Choy, 39, dramatically changed his plea to guilty on the second day of his Old Bailey trial.
Choy, who was then formally found guilty of murder and robbery on the direction of the judge, was told he would have to serve a minimum of 20 years.
Choy, formerly of south east London, fled to Holland following Yuk Ying Phuah's death in August 2003. He was extradited to England in April last year. He had admitted manslaughter.
Mrs Phuah, 42, suffocated after more than 69ft (21m) of the tape was wrapped tightly round her head, forming a mask, said William Boyce QC, prosecuting.
Her body was found the next day in a lay-by on the A20 Sidcup bypass in Kent.
Two thousand pounds was stolen during the robbery at her semi-detached home in Meadow Way, Wembley, north-west London.
Choy, a Malaysian with £20,000 debts, had already borrowed money from the family.
Mr Boyce said: "Anyone who has 21-and-a-half metres of this tape bound round their face in this manner cannot possibly live. The only possible outcome is to kill them."
Vietnamese-born Mrs Phuah had two teenage children and ran restaurants in Harrow and Andover, Hampshire, with her husband.
