Shokpeeper 'beaten to death with bottles from his own shelves'

Gurmail Singh, 63, was beaten over the head with bottles of wine taken from his own shelves as he tried to stop four young men taking cash, cigarettes, alcohol and sweets from his shop in the Cowcliffe area of Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, on February 20.

Today, prosecutor Adrian Waterman QC told Bradford Crown Court: "Gurmail Singh did not meekly hand over his property, his hard earned money.

"When he resisted the robbers they used serious violence on him, grabbing the nearest weapon to hand, which happened to be bottles of wine he sold in the shop.

"He was hit on the head. It was that which caused his death."

Mr Waterman told the jury of nine woman and three men: "This was a robbery gone wrong."

The prosecutor was opening the case on the first day of the trial of Umare Aslam, 20, Muawaz Khalid, 20, Shoaib Khan, 18, Nabeel Shafi, 18, and Rehman Afzal, 18.

He said it was the prosecution case that four of the defendants - Aslam, Khalid, Shafi and Afzal - went into the store to rob Mr Singh.

He said Khan was not in the shop because he could not fit in the taxi which took the others.

But Mr Waterman told the jury: "It is the crown's case that each of these defendants was at the very least involved in a joint enterprise.

"To put it in more colloquial terms, they were in it together and each was responsible, criminally, for his death."

All five defendants deny murder. Khalid, Khan and Aslam also deny robbery.

Aslam, of Coniston Avenue, Dalton, Huddersfield; Khalid, of Blackmoorfoot Road, Huddersfield; Khan, of Calton Street, Hillhouse, Huddersfield; Shafi, of Park Hill, Bradley, Huddersfield; and Afzal, of Jacinth Court, Fartown, Huddersfield, sat in the dock listening to the prosecution opening separated by security officers.

Mr Waterman told the jury how smokers outside the pub opposite the shop realised something was wrong when they saw two of the robbers - Afzal and Aslam - walk and then run from the scene.

One man, David Singh, who is no relation to the shopkeeper, went over to the store and saw the two remaining robbers rifling through cigarettes and spirits bottles.

David Singh trapped them inside by holding the door as the two defendants - Khalid and Shafi - made a desperate attempt to smash their way out, the court heard.

Mr Waterman described how the two robbers eventually found their way out of a back door and ran but both were tackled by members of the public.

Christopher Stoney, who lives nearby, tackled Shafi to the ground, the court was told, but the defendant managed to get away.

A man called Christopher Baker lunged at Khalid, causing him to stumble, but he got up and ran off, Mr Waterman said.

He told the court the scene which confronted those who entered the shop was "a desperate one".

He said: "The deceased was lying on the floor in the corner of the shop.

"The turban he always wore was off and his head was very badly injured and bleeding."

The court was told Mr Singh was attacked at about 8.30pm on February 20 and died the following day.

Mr Waterman said the 63-year-old had come to England from India in 1963 and raised his family in Huddersfield.

He worked first in a mill and then for a pipe-making firm before taking early retirement about five years ago, when he bought the Cowcliffe shop.

The court heard how there had never been a robbery at the shop until two days before the incident which led to his death.

Mr Waterman said on this occasion he fought back against two robbers and suffered minor injuries.

He said there was no connection between the defendants in the murder trial and the robbery on February 18 but he told the jury they "must have known" about it.

Later, the jury was told how the defendants Afzal and Shafi have pleaded guilty to the charge of robbing Mr Singh.

Jurors were also told Khan has admitted a charge of assisting an offender.

Mr Waterman told the jury how evidence from an expert in bloodstains suggested the shopkeeper had been hit at least five times with "considerable force by a heavy, short object".

He said a forensic pathologist had concluded that there were six lacerations to Mr Singh's head.

The prosecutor said it was logical to believe that the victim was hit with a minimum of six blows.

Mr Waterman also told the jury that Khalid confessed to a friend of his called Mohammed Akram how he had taken part in the attack.

He told the jury: "At one point he told Mr Akram that the group was attacking the shopkeeper, hitting him and hitting him because he was fighting back.

"They pinned him down.

"They used whatever they could lay their hands on to strike him on the head, to knock him out so he couldn't get back up."

Mr Waterman also told the jury the defendant Aslam admitted to police he was known by the nickname "Crazy".

After the conclusion of the prosecution's opening arguments, the case was adjourned until tomorrow.

The trial is expected to last five to six weeks.