Inquest into Wolverhampton murder suspect's death in prison hears worried sister phoned jail 85 times

Jai Singh Puni, aged 50, was found after barricading himself in his cell in January 2022. He was due to stand trial for murdering his wife Sukhjeet Uppal, 40, who was found stabbed to death at their home in Tangmere Road, Wolverhampton, on Sunday, September 19, 2021

The inquest by jury opened at Birmingham Coroners Court on Monday and heard emotional evidence by Mr Singh's, sister Paramjit Khaira.

She described frantically contacting HMP after seeing her brother's failing health after he was remanded in custody in September 2021, which saw him lose weight, suffer paranoia, hallucinations and severe mental health problems.

She said: "My phone records show I made 85 calls to HMP Birmingham. We thought he would go to a mental health hospital but he never did. He needed specialist treatment. I emailed the prison with my concerns."

The coroner's court heard in the desperate email Mrs Khaira sent to HMP Birmingham outlining her worries she wrote: "It is of the upmost importance that Jai Singh receives specialist mental health help whilst in custody."

She also said how prison had taken its toll physically, she said: "The last time I saw him he did not look like my brother, he had lost weight, he had let his hair grow."

Describing how her brother's death had affected her family, she added: "Jai was always the strong one, the one that kept us together. My mother's mental health has deteriorated. His death has had a massive impact on us all.We feel Jai was badly let down by the prison."

She also revealed how shocked the family were when he was arrested for the murder of his wife, that her brother could not remember the crime and revealed another brother had died due to mental health issues 10 years ago.

She said: "When Jai went to prison we were shocked. Jai was not a criminally-minded person. He was calm, caring and responsible. All of his life Jai worked hard to build his family and home. He had big plans for our whole family to go on holiday after Covid."

Detective Sergeant Philip Hinton gave evidence concerning West Midlands Police's involvement in the death of Mr Singh. He explained how Mr Singh had waited until his cell mate had left prison for a court date before blocking his cell door with a crutch wedged between the door and bed.

He said: "We concluded there was no third party involvement concerning the death of Mr Singh. We concluded he had attempted to commit suicide and did not investigate the matter further."

Earlier, Coroner Emma Brown told the jury why Mr Singh was in HMP Birmingham.

She said: "On September 21, 2021, Jai Singh was remanded into custody at HMP Birmingham. He was charged with the murder of his wife and awaiting trial.

"On initial admission to prison, there were no concerns about his physical or mental health. However, his sisters and family were very concerned about his mental health. There was a history of mental health issues in his family.

"His behaviour had changed dramatically and he was reporting to them symptoms of mental illness. They made their concerns known to the prison. Jai Singh expressed to various people in October and November 2021 he was struggling to sleep and that he was hearing voices. He said at times the voices were telling him to kill himself although he said he had no particular plans to kill himself when asked."

His cell mate said Mr Singh had problems explaining in English his mental health problems only being able to say: "My head hurts."

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