A BUSINESSMAN on trial for the murder of his second wife is believed to have offered a man £20,000 to kill his first wife.
Concrete company boss Gurpreet Singh is on trial at the Birmingham Crown Court for the murder of his second wife, Sarbjit Kaur.
She was found strangled inn the couple's home in Rookery Lane, Wolverhampton on February 16 last year. Singh is alleged to have killed Sarbjit with the assistance of an "unknown accomplice."
The court heard on Tuesday that Singh offered to pay a man named Heera Singh Uppal £20,000 to kill his first wife, Amandeep Kaur.
Barrister David Mason said the prosecution was "not in a position to say" Amandeep was murdered. According to her death certificate, she died of a brain hemorrhage in Punjab, India, in 2004.
"Clearly, Gurpreet Singh has a habit of not getting on with his wives," said Mason.
Reportedly, Singh told Uppal to make it look "like a burglary gone wrong." The circumstances were "startlingly familiar" to the death of Singh's second wife, he added.
When questioned about Sarbjit's death, Singh told police he discovered his wife's body in her workroom and that their home had been "turned over."
However, there was no sign of forced entry at the home and CCTV from a neighbouring property captured "an unknown character" in a hooded parka jacket going into the couple's home.
The Crown's QC said: "After Mr Singh has got back from the school run we say he had already clearly planned to kill Sarbjit.
"He had obviously recruited someone else to help him.
"Whether it was a colleague, hired help, mistress, perhaps we will never know. But that person knew when to go to the house, knew that he or she would be let in by the defendant and, when in the premises, helped to murder Sarbjit and make it all look like a burglary that had gone dreadfully wrong."
The trial continues.
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