Wolverhampton wife killing: How fake burglary plot was almost the perfect murder
It was almost the perfect murder. To all the world, Gurpreet Singh looked like a grieving husband whose wife had been cruelly snatched from him by burglars during a break-in at the family home.
But the reality was far from it, with Singh having meticulously put together a plan to rid himself of Sarbjit Kaur with a solution alarmingly businesslike - he would simply murder her.
It was suspected a mysterious figure, who was seen entering the house at Rookery Lane at the time of the murder, had been his mistress and was lined up to be Sarbjit's replacement.
But it was never proven and the person, believed to be a woman of 5ft 2ins in stature, who was captured on CCTV wearing a furry-hooded parka was never found by police, despite a trawl of the footage.
She was last seen on Goldthorn Road before seemingly vanishing into thin air.
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For months the now-45-year-old building contractor planned how he would achieve his aim without the finger of suspicion falling on him.
The CCTV at the Rookery Lane house had mysteriously stopped working two months beforehand and had never been fixed.
Singh's wealth provided a motive for any burglars, steering the focus of the inquiry away from him.
As luck would have it, just three weeks before Sarbjit’s death he was sent a WhatsApp message showing an image of woman in a furry-hooded parka who was said to be working with a gang stealing from properties, and warning people not to open their doors to her.
The prosecution suggested this gave Singh the idea to have his accomplice dress in exactly the same way, so that the police would link her with that criminal operation.
On the day of the murder, he had been very visible to the public acting normally, dropping his children off at school, twice visiting the Gurdwara temple in Upper Villiers Street, driving to suppliers in Birmingham, working at his yard in Wolverhampton, even popping into Waitrose to buy bananas before picking the children up from school.
It was almost the perfect murder – but with the exception one vitally important element.
Singh's own CCTV may have conveniently stopped working, but he had not considered a neighbour’s security camera which crucially revealed the unidentified figure arriving at the house just before Sarbjit was strangled, while Singh was inside, and leaving the property 52 minutes later, just after Singh had left.
Singh was subsequently found guilty of Sarbjit's murder today at Birmingham Crown Court.
