Sukhdev Singh
A Shropshire chip shop owner discovered the bodies of two dead men at the foot of the stairs to their flat as he arrived for work, a court has heard.
Jasvinder Singh Suraj, owner of the Shawbury Fish Bar, told Stafford Crown Court he made the grim discovery minutes after taking a frantic phone call from Sukhdev Singh, the man accused of the double murder.
Singh denies two charges of murder.
Mr Suraj told the jury in Singh’s trial at the crown court yesterday that Singh sounded “shaky” when he told Mr Suraj over the phone “come quick, I’m on my own here”.
When he arrived at the fish bar at about 10am on December 7 he found the door unlocked and the bodies of 30 year-old Jaswant Singh and 31-year-old Kulwant Singh, the court was told.
The court heard Singh, an illegal immigrant, was working at the fish bar to pay off a loan that his family had taken out to pay for him to be smuggled into England.
The jury was also told of Singh’s misery during his three years working at the fish bar, and that he was allegedly taunted by Jaswant and Kulwant, known as Jim and John.
Mohammed Irfran, 36, worked at the Indian Village takeaway next to the fish bar, also owned by the Suraj family.
He told the jury Singh had told him he was homesick.
Kulwant Singh
Mr Irfran said: “He said, ‘I’m homesick, it’s really hard work here and I’m not used to it. I think I will go back to my country’.”
He added: “I think he missed his family or his friends or his country.”
He said that Singh had also been mourning the death of his sister in India.
Mr Suraj told the court he knew Singh was an illegal immigrant, but initially tried to conceal this in police interviews in order to protect himself and Singh, who he said would be at risk of deportation.
He said Singh had never been on his books as a paid employee at the fish bar, and most of Singh’s wages were sent to his family in India who were heavily in debt.
Jaswant Singh
Parminder Kaur Suraj, Mr Suraj’s wife, told the court she had seen Jaswant and Kulwant taunting Singh, calling him a murderer and making jokes.
She also said she noticed some marks on his arm, but Singh told her he had been “misbehaving”.
In a police statement after the deaths, she said in the past she had seen Jaswant lose his temper and become aggressive towards members of her family.
The trial continues.
By Abigail Bates
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