Wolverhampton Britannia Hotel murder victim made 'biggest mistake of her life'
The victim of a fatal stabbing made the biggest mistake of her life by getting involved in a relationship with another man behind the back of her husband, a jury was told by the prosecution.
Supermarket worker Gurminder Singh, aged 29, had travelled from his home in London to Wolverhampton to see Amandeep Kaur Hothi, also 29, at least nine times in the year before he stabbed her to death in his room at the city's Britannia Hotel, said Mr Robert Price, prosecuting.
Married mother-of-two Mrs Hothi told the defendant her name was Simran Sandhu and used a second mobile phone to communicate with him, it was claimed.
Her husband knew nothing of the relationship and Singh had not realised she was married, the court was told. "He was besotted with her," said Mr Price.
The defendant returned to Wolverhampton the day after getting back from an overnight stay in the city with murder on his mind, it was alleged. He armed himself with a craft knife and recorded video clips on his mobile showing him sitting on a train and apparently saying ' I love you, whoever you are with. I have found out.'
The prosecutor declared: "He was speaking in English and Punjabi and there may be some issue over the precise interpretation but that sheds powerful light on the state of his mind.."
The pair met and went up to Room 125 from which Singh rang a workmate at 6.53pm. Mr Price explained: "He was crying, asking for forgiveness and saying the person he loved was either married or about to be married. He said he could not stay alive without her. Then the line went dead. His friend tried to return calls but they were not answered because, by then, he was engaged in the brutal attack."
Singh from Green Lane, Forest Gate later admitted stabbing the victim but claimed in a statement: "I lost all reason and attacked her after finding out she had been lying. I had the knife to kill myself."
But Mr Price insisted: "He stabbed her to guarantee that if he could not have her, then nobody else could." Singh denies murder, claiming he was not in control of his actions. The trial continues.
