Baljit Singh murder: Victim owed Albanian drug dealers £30,000

Stewart Millership, who has admitted being involved in the attack in which Baljit 'Bill' Singh was killed but denies delivering the fatal blows, told Wolverhampton Crown Court: "He was deeply in debt to them."

The 33-year-old defendant alleged that the figure was around £30,000 when Mr Singh, aged 50, was bludgeoned over the head up top 20 times and stabbed in the neck at a house in Beeches Road, Rowley Regis, on December 23 last year.

Millership, who was living at the address at the time, claimed he and the victim grew cannabis in partnership with Albanians at a variety of different addresses across Birmingham and the Black Country.

One of these in Pearsall Drive, Oldbury, was busted by police in a raid early last year while another in Great Bridge had its crop stolen while Mr Singh reportedly gave the harvest from a third drug factory in Edgbaston to a friend, said Millership in evidence to the court.

Mr Robert Price, prosecuting, had earlier revealed: "The defendant and Mr Singh had known each other for some time and were involved with cannabis. The deceased bought £30,000 worth of the drug from Albanians a year before his disappearance. I cannot comment on the precise nature of any financial arrangements concerning drugs or any other venture."

Millership said he arranged for two Albanians to meet Mr Singh - who also reportedly owed him £12,500 - to 'sort out the debts' on the day of the murder.

"I knew there would be words exchanged but did not realise there would be violence," he said and alleged the Albanians launched the fatal attack during which he admitted prevented the victim from protecting himself.

The defendant said he left the house in the middle of the fatal beating and returned to find Mr Singh dead in the cellar of the otherwise empty house.

Millership admits murder on the grounds that he played a minor role in the attack but the prosecution maintain he committed the crime alone. Neither the mobile phone on which he allegedly arranged the fateful meeting with the Albanians nor the mobile of the victim have been found.

The weapon used to batter Mr Singh is also missing while the knife with which he was stabbed was still sticking in his neck when the body was found in the cellar by police on New Year's Day.

Mr Price said during cross examination of the defendant: "These Albanians are a figment of your imagination designed to limit your responsibility for what happened."

A judge will pass sentence after deciding on the facts of the case, possibly later today.