A millionaire Kensington antique dealer has admitted strangling his seven-year-old daughter in the mansion they lived in.
Robert Peters had been plotting to kill his seven-year-old daughter Sophia "for weeks", a court heard, before he brutally strangled her using the cord of his dressing gown.
The wealthy antiques dealer, who runs Kensington Antiques Centre in Kensington Church Street, just a stone's throw from Kensington Palace, decided to pounce when his wife had left him to look after Sophia in their new home on November 3 last year.
Peters, who is 55 and who is said to have business assets of £1.3million , told police other family members had left the £1 million house and he felt that it would be his last opportunity to kill his daughter "for some time".
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Convinced she was dead, Peters then made a 999 call telling the operator "there's a murder" and telling them his child had been murdered. When the operator asked, "who's killed them", Peters responded "I have".
Metropolitan Police officers rushed to his home in Blenheim Road, Raynes Park, where they found the front door open, and went inside to find Peters who told them "she's upstairs, I've strangled her".
Sophia was found in her bedroom and an officer immediately loosened the dressing gown cord and attempted CPR, while London Ambulance Service were also called.
Paramedics tried to revive Sophia as she was taken to St George's Hospital in Tooting, where she was placed into intensive care. Despite the best efforts, Sophia was pronounced dead the next day, November 4.
A post-mortem was carried out on the young girl which found her cause of death to be hypoxic-ischaemic brain damage due to being in cardiac arrest as a result of ligature compression of the neck.
Peters was charged on the day Sophia died, with attempted murder and remanded in custody before appearing at the Old Bailey on November 10, where he was formally charged with her murder.
He initially pleaded not guilty, however changed his plea on Wednesday (April 25), three days before his trial was due to begin at the Old Bailey .
Peters will be sentenced at the court on Monday (April 30).
Detective Inspector Helen Rance from the Homicide and Major Crime Command, who led the investigation, said: "Sophia was an innocent seven-year-old girl, much loved by her mother, brother and friends.
"She was tragically murdered by the hands of her own father in the most frightening way.
"Sophia had her whole life ahead of her, which was taken away so cruelly in an act of pure selfishness.
"Robert Peters has shown no remorse for the murder, and initially maintained a defence of diminished responsibility. However, due to the strong evidence against him, he has changed his plea to guilty.
"This was a particularly traumatic case to deal with for all concerned, and I hope that this conviction brings a degree of closure to Sophia's family."
