Halfway House murder trial: Accused 'told lies to police over fear of reprisals'

Businessman Satnam Singh Blugher, who ran Tony’s Diner at Halfway House on the A458 between Shrewsbury and Welshpool, was found with multiple stab wounds at the premises on June 26 last year.

More than £47,000 in cash was also taken from the premises.

The accused, Belkar Singh, told a jury at Stafford Crown Court that the two men who were responsible for attacking the proprietor, who also known as Mr B, did it in a revenge killing.

He said the pair, who were unknown to him, entered a back door and struck the owner on the head with a cooking pan before stabbing him with knives.

Singh also told the court that the offenders had threatened to kill him and his own children back home in India if he told officers what happened.

The case so far:

• Diner owner 'died in revenge killing'

• Halfway House murder accused had 'overstayed visa'

• Accused says victim was his friend

• Victim's blood found on polo shirt, court told

• Stabbing victim was ‘like Gordon Ramsay’

• Accused is taken ill

• Worker felt ‘uneasy’ about accused

• Argument heard at diner, jury is told

• Stab victim’s son found father’s body at diner

• Owner was stabbed nearly 50 times at diner near Shrewsbury

Singh, aged 58, was arrested the following day, in Birmingham, where he was staying after had allegedly fleeing the area in a taxi.

Defending barrister Mr Jo Sidhu told the court that the Indian national was brought to Shrewsbury Police Station to be interviewed in relation to Mr Blugher's death and he told the investigating officers that he did not know "when or where in the building" Mr Blugher died.

He told them he was upstairs watching Punjabi TV and did not hear any commotion in the kitchen on the night of the incident.

Giving evidence on oath for a third day Singh said: "I was scared and and that is why I lied. Those males said to me, 'If you get arrested and tell the truth at the police station' that they would kill my family and kill me. I told lies because I was scared."

Singh also said that he told the two men that he feared that the police and Mr Blugher's family would suspect him of the crime.

"They said to me, 'Uncle we have killed him. If the police arrest you don't say anything. We killed him and nothing will happen to you'."

He claimed the pair had accused the restaurant owner of having someone killed and they had come 'to sort it out'.

He also said he was considering moving on to another job, in Gravesend, Kent, for better pay at the time and had told Mr Blugher that he was going for a trial and needed to have a day off on June 27.

Singh, of Booth Street, Handsworth, Birmingham, was employed to wash dishes and clean at the roadside diner and had worked there since 2016.

He had previously told the jury that he had overstayed his visitors’ visa after arriving in the UK in 2005 to find work to save up for his daughter's wedding.

The prosecution alleges that it was Singh, motivated by greed, and no one else, who was responsible for the crime. He denies murder.

The trial continues.