Gang gets life for DPD driver axe killing

Arshdeep Singh, 24, Jagdeep Singh, 23, Shivdeep Singh, 27, and Manjot Singh, 24, were all convicted of murder

Four men who beat a DPD delivery driver to death after ambushing him have been jailed for life for his murder.

Aurman Singh, 23, was struck with an axe, a golf club, a wooden stave, a metal club, a hockey stick, a shovel, a cricket bat, and a knife during the fatal attack in Shrewsbury last August.

Arshdeep Singh and Jagdeep Singh from Dudley, along with Shivdeep Singh and Manjot Singh from Smethwick were all told they will serve at least 28 years in prison.

A fifth man, Sukhmandeep Singh from Peterborough, was sentenced to 10 years for manslaughter.

The judge at Stafford Crown Court, Kristina Montgomery KC, described it as "an attack of horrifying brutality" and "a very public execution".

She said it had been "an attack plainly intended to kill him" and Mr Singh had been left to die at the side of the road.

The motive behind the attack was not revealed in court, but Det Ch Insp Mark Bellamy of West Mercia Police said officers believed the victim was possibly connected to an incident in Derbyshire on 20 August.

He said the level of violence used by the gang in Shrewsbury had been "quite shocking".

Four other men believed to have been involved in the fatal attack on Mr Singh, who was based at a DPD depot in Stoke-on-Trent, are still at large, police have said.

Aurman Singh's mother said his killing had "torn the very soul" out of her

A statement from the victim's mother, Kuljit Kaur, was read out before sentences were passed.

In it she said: "I felt as though my very soul had been torn from my body, replaced by an unending ache of sorrow.”

“In disbelief and denial I clung to hope, praying it was a terrible mistake until I laid eyes on his lifeless form.”

She described him as "a beacon of love, kindness, and selflessness".

During the five-week trial, the court heard eight men had travelled in two cars to Berwick Avenue in Shrewsbury, where they lay in wait for Aurman Singh.

Sukhmandeep Singh, 24, was convicted of manslaughter

The men had been directed by a ninth man, Sukhmandeep Singh, from the DPD depot where the victim was based.

Seven of the eight men then jumped out, each of them concealing his face with a mask and carrying a weapon, and attacked him.

Prosecutors said Mr Singh was chopped in the head three times with the axe, fracturing his skull with one blow penetrating his brain.

He was also clubbed over the head with the golf club with such force, its head broke off and the shaft was left bent.

Mr Singh was also attacked with the hockey stick and a wooden stave, before being stabbed in the back with such force, the knife cut through one of his ribs.

He died at the scene of the attack.

Det Ch Insp Bellamy said the attack had happened "in broad daylight in a residential area in Shrewsbury".

Those guilty of murder are:

• Arshdeep Singh, 24 of Shaw Road, Tipton, Dudley

• Jagdeep Singh, 23, of Goodrich Mews, Dudley

• Shivdeep Singh, 27, of Greenfield Road, Smethwick

• Manjot Singh, 24, also of Greenfield Road, Smethwick

Sukhmandeep Singh, 24, from Paynels, in Orton Goldhay, Peterborough, was convicted of manslaughter.

Mr Singh was killed after arriving to make a delivery in Berwick Avenue in the Coton Hill area of Shrewsbury

The Crown Prosecution Service said that throughout the trial, no evidence had been submitted to indicate a motive for the ferocious attack.

"It isn't necessary in order to prove murder to prove a motive, to prove why it happened," prosecutors told the court early in the case.

"And in this case the prosecution will not try to prove why it happened. We don't have evidence to prove why it happened."

Det Ch Insp Bellamy said there was no clear ringleader and the case was presented as a "joint enterprise", in which all parties were responsible for the killing.