A MAN has been jailed for life for slashing the throat of a love rival in the grounds of Whipps Cross University Hospital.

Wei Ma waited for Zhong Ping Zheng, of Palmerston Road, Walthamstow, to fasten his seatbelt before repeatedly cutting him with a stanley knife.

Ma, a Chinese National of no fixed abode, will have to serve a minimum of 11 years after pleading guilty to murder.

At the Old Bailey today, the court heard that Ma, who has a wife and children at home in his native country and had overstayed his visa, grew jealous of a friendship between the victim and a young woman called Ting Yu.

Mark Fenhalls, prosecuting, said: “He formed an attachment and became jealous of the fact that she was living with another man. He made attempts to ask if he could stay at their house but was turned down.”

Mr Fenhalls told the court that the day of the murder, on April 21 last year, Ma took Miss Yu to Whipps Cross University Hospital after she had complained of a rash.

While they were there, Mr Zheng arrived and CCTV footage showed them walking to his car. The victim got into the driver's seat and Ma sat directly behind.

Mr Fenhalls said: “He waited for the driver to put on his seatbelt then attacked him form behind with a stanley knife, which he carried habitually.

“He slashed the victim three times across the throat, making deep incisions. The nature of the incisions were so great and deep that the only conclusion we can draw is that he intended to kill him.”

CCTV footage at the hospital showed Ma making a hasty escape, leaving a trail of blood as he left.

Passing hospital staff made efforts to save Mr Zheng but he died from his injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Four days later, Ma was arrested in Leytonstone High Road after two patrolling police officers recognised him as the man wanted for the hospital murder, the court heard.

Mark Milliken-Smith, mitigating, told the court that two psychiatric reports concluded that Ma did not have a mental illness but there had been a “sufficient deterioration of his mental health”.

He told the judge that Ma was of previous good character and had been a doctor of Chinese medicine and a teacher in his native country.

But Ma had failed to secure permanent employment or a home in the UK and his situation led to a decline in his mental state leading to, “obsessive and compulsive behaviour”.

He also told the judge there had been some provocation because the victim had been making threats to Ma about going to members of a Triad gang, which Miss Yu verified in her statement to the police.

Judge Richard Hawkins QC told Ma: “You did this because you were jealous of him, thinking he was a love rival for the affections of Miss Ting Yu, whereas he had simply come to pick her up from the hospital.

“You murdered Mr Zheng by slashing his throat, making three deep incisions and I agree with the prosecution that the intention to kill him was shown by the nature of those injuries.”