Four charged with murder of Yorkshire shopkeeper

Murdered - Gurmail Singh

Police have charged a 20-year-old man and three 17-year-olds with the murder of a Sikh shopkeeper, ten days after he succumbed to severe head injuries possibly inflicted with a hammer.

Gurmail Singh, 63, who leaves a widow, two sons and a daughter, died in hospital on February 21 the day after trying to prevent a robbery in his convenience store at Fixby, near Huddersfield in Yorkshire.

Police have named the 20-year-old they charged alongside the juveniles as Muawaz Khalid. All four are from the Huddersfield area.

Mr Singh, who celebrated his 63rd birthday the day before he was killed, had lived in the UK since 1963 and was much liked in his community, which is known as a quiet location, but prone to visits by unruly youths from neighbouring areas.

The UK’s Daily Telegraph reported that Mr Singh, who worked seven days a week, had told relatives that he was ready to retire because his shop, the Cowcliffe Convenience Store, was being targeted by violent youths.

Drinkers at a nearby pub brought two men who entered the shop to the ground when they left but could not hold them and they ran off.

Darshan Singh, 67, a relative of the dead man and a one-time shopkeeper himself, described Gurmail Singh as “a very gentle man”.

Det Supt David Pervin, of West Yorkshire Police, said he had been extremely well-liked and respected. People in his community knew him as a “very jolly man” who would do “absolutely anything for anyone”.