Millionaire's daughter who wrote manual on how to murder rich pensioners before stabbing woman, 84, to death could be freed in months

A millionaire's daughter who wrote a manual on how to murder wealthy pensioners is making a bid for freedom more than 20 years after stabbing an elderly woman to death. Kemi Adeyoola was just 17 when she knifed 84-year-old Anne Mendel 14 times in what prosecutors said was a practice run for a planned killing spree. The former public schoolgirl, whose father was a wealthy property tycoon, hoped to make £3million by murdering and robbing rich pensioners. She was jailed for life in June 2006 with a minimum term of 20 years. The Parole Board has now said her case is under review, raising the prospect of her being freed in months. Experts will analyse her case, look at progress she has made in prison since being sentenced and her relationships with other inmates. In 2023, the board recommended she be moved to an open prison, raising fears a release decision could be the next step. At her sentencing, Judge Richard Hone warned that she was a continuing danger to the public and questioned whether she would ever be safe to release. Kemi Adeyoola (pictured aged 18) could be freed from prison 20 years after stabbing an elderly pensioner to death Adeyoola stabbed Mrs Mendel 14 times in what prosecutors said was a practice run for a planned killing spree He said: 'It is not for me to decide whether it will ever be safe to release you.'Adeyoola had drawn up her murder plans while serving a sentence for shoplifting at Bullwood Hall young offenders' institution in Essex.Her 18-page handwritten manual, entitled 'Prison and After: Making Life Count', mixed everyday ambitions with plans to kill wealthy elderly women. She wanted to lose two stone, rent a two-bedroom flat, buy a Mercedes and obtain fake GCSE and A-level certificates. But she also set herself a target of making at least £3million through murder and robbery. Her shopping list included knives, guns, stun guns, a bulletproof vest, wigs and dark glasses. Among the more bizarre items was a full-body disguise intended to make her look like an 18-stone woman. Adeyoola planned to pick out wealthy pensioners, study their movements and visit them posing as an A-level student carrying out a survey. Kemi's millionaire father, Bola Adeyoola (pictured) publicly disowned his daughter at the time. He was later convicted of fraud in 2014 and was sentenced to two years behind bars She would then force them to reveal their financial details before killing them. The manual even described how she could frame a victim's husband for the murder, cut up the body and dispose of the remains in black rubbish bags. Prison officers discovered the document during a routine cell search in October 2004.But Adeyoola claimed it was simply the plot for a crime thriller inspired by writers such as James Patterson and Martina Cole.She was assessed by a psychiatrist, who did not predict she would carry out such a killing.Five months later, Mrs Mendel was found murdered at her home in Golders Green, north London.The pensioner, who was deaf, had once lived next door to Adeyoola's family and had previously shown kindness towards her future killer.Born in London's East End, she had served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service during the Second World War.She was a devout Jewish woman who spent almost 20 years volunteering in a charity shop and regularly helped neighbours with shopping and babysitting.Her husband Leonard, then 81, returned from a shopping trip to find her lying in a pool of blood beneath a pile of coats in their hallway.The couple had been married for around 50 years.At the time, her family said: 'Mrs Mendel was a person whose whole life was taken up with kindness and giving up of herself for others.'Detectives eventually caught Adeyoola after finding a tiny trace of her DNA on Mrs Mendel's hand.She claimed it had been transferred when she helped the pensioner cross the road the previous day.But the jury rejected her account and convicted her of murder.She was also convicted alongside another teenage girl of conspiring to pervert the course of justice after arranging a false alibi.At the Old Bailey, Judge Hone described Adeyoola as a remorseless and cold-blooded killer.He told the court he believed she had wanted to experience killing someone, possibly to write about it, but more likely to boast about it or repeat the crime. He also rejected arguments that her troubled childhood could explain what she had done. Her millionaire father Bola Adeyoola, who was a British property businessman and former letting agency director, strongly disowned her following the verdict. Bola, who was later convicted of fraud in 2014, said at the time: 'She is no longer my daughter. What she did was evil. I don't even like her.' The father was sentenced to two years imprisonment in 2014 aged 57 at Reading Court, after pleading guilty to fraud by abuse of position. Bola, who was then the director of letting agencies Sterling and Graceview, based in Slough and Windsor, defrauded a couple from Hampshire out of more than £60,000 between 2002 and 2009 by withholding the money for their rental properties and giving them cheques which bounced. In 2016, Kemi Adeyoola tried to have her minimum sentence reduced, claiming she had made exceptional progress in prison. Her lawyers said she had achieved rehabilitation goals, taken on a position of trust and started an Open University course. But the High Court heard of thefts from fellow prisoners, intimidation of other inmates and substance abuse. Mr Justice Singh refused to reduce her sentence, finding that her progress was not exceptional. He also pointed out that Mrs Mendel had previously been kind to Adeyoola, yet she had still targeted her for money and the experience of killing.The judge concluded: 'There is clearly a lot of work still to be done.'In October 2023, the Parole Board recommended that Adeyoola be moved to an open prison, where she could be tested ahead of possible release.