Customer who to tried to catch Gurmail Singh's killers tells trial what happened in shop

Sep 7 2010 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A COURAGEOUS pub customer has told how he trapped two men inside Gurmail Singh’s shop as they tried to batter the door down with a lump hammer and bottles of wine.

David Singh recalled how he was showered with glass as he clung to the door of Cowcliffe Convenience Stores to prevent the pair’s escape on the night the shopkeeper died.

Mr Singh, who is not related to Gurmail Singh, was giving evidence at the Bradford Crown Court trial of five men accused of murder.

He also revealed how he had been racked with guilt since the incident by the thought that the 63-year-old may have been attacked after he intervened.

And he told how the robbers sprinted away like 100m world record holder Usain Bolt after the raid.

Mr Singh was having a smoke outside the Shepherd’s Arms on Cowcliffe Hill Road, opposite the shop, on the night of Saturday, February 20.

Shortly after 8.30pm, he heard the bell above the shop door ring and saw two males leaving the store dressed in dark hooded tops and dark jogging bottoms.

He told the jury: “I think I said to them: ‘What have you been doing?’

“They visibly pulled their hoods up around their faces.

“I understood the shop had been burgled on the Thursday night and to exit the shop with a hoodie on is quite strange as Mr Singh is such a friendly man. I didn’t think there was a need to have a hoodie pulled up. It just seemed strange.

“Initially they walked but as I started going across the road they quickened their pace and eventually started running.”

Mr Singh went over to the shop and saw two people “rifling the shelves”.

He said: “I shouted for someone to phone the police because I could still see people inside the shop. I think I paused and then I didn’t know what to do because I don’t get confronted with this kind of situation all the time.

“My intention was to trap the perpetrators inside so I grabbed the door and pulled it shut.”

Mr Singh said one of the robbers came towards him.

He said: “He ran to the door and motioned to put his hand on the inside of his jacket. I thought to myself he had a gun. That was my true belief, that was my reaction.

“As he motioned in his jacket I leaned back and I saw a lump hammer strike the glass. My initial reaction was to jump back because the glass splintered at me.

“The window was hit possibly two or three times before a bottle of red wine was thrown at the window. The second of them drop-kicked the door.”

Moments later, another witness shouted that the pair were running down Netheroyd Hill Road.

Mr Singh saw one being rugby tackled but both got away.

Asked how quickly they were running, Mr Singh said: “Have you heard of Usain Bolt?”

He added: “My head and my eyes were covered in glass. I couldn’t see a great deal.”

Mr Singh was the first person to go into the shop after the attack.

He said he found Gurmail Singh lying with his head against bottles of wine and his legs “buckled” underneath him. His turban was lying to the side of his head.

Under cross-examination, Mr Singh admitted he had initially told police he thought the two men in the shop were white. All of those on trial are Asian.