Wolverhampton wife murder trial hears mystery accomplice could be woman
A mystery accomplice alleged to have helped a wealthy businessman to murder his wife may have been a woman, a court was told.
A slight figure in a parka jacket seen on CCTV footage approaching and leaving the property at the time 38-year-old Sarbjit Kaur is said to have been strangled has never been traced, a jury heard.
Gurpreet Singh, 43, is charged with murdering his wife at their home in Rookery Lane, Penn, Wolverhampton, on February 16 last year and also soliciting the murder of his first wife five years ago.
Detective Constable Spencer Jenkins, who specialises in analysing CCTV footage, said he believed the alleged unknown accomplice was female because of the person’s slight build and appearance and the way they walked.
Forensic officers have put the figure’s height at 5ft 4ins. He or she was tracked as far as Goldthorn Road before disappearing from the force’s radar although police inquiries into their whereabouts continue.
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Kulwant Kaur, believed to be the last person to speak to Sarbjit Kaur on the telephone before she was killed, also gave evidence to Birmingham Crown Court.
The call, lasting four minutes and 17 seconds, was made by Kulwant Kaur at 8.09am about some suits that the murder victim wanted overlocked, or edged, using a special machine.
Sarbjit Kaur told her that she and her husband would drop the suits off at her Salop Street shop at around 8.30am before they went to Birmingham on “urgent” business.
She added they would collect the clothes on their way back but no one turned up.
Mrs Kaur, speaking through an interpreter, said that Sarbjit, a seamstress, made about three visits a month to the shop to buy supplies for her own sewing business.
She said it was unusual for her not to turn up having said that she would. Mrs Kaur called her again at 9.17am but there was no reply.
The prosecution say that Sarbjit Kaur died between the time the call ended at 8.14am and 9.01am when Gurpreet Singh left for work. The unknown figure, said to have arrived at around 8.15am was seen leaving the house four minutes after the defendant.
Mrs Kaur did not answer any of the many calls she received after the conversation with Kulwant Kaur, the court heard.
Singh of Coalway Road, Penn, pleads not guilty to murdering Sarbjit Kaur and soliciting the murder between July and December 2013 of his first wife, Amandeep Kaur.
The trial continues.
