GURMAIL Singh’s family say they still feel “cheated” – exactly a year since the beloved shopkeeper was brutally murdered.

Mr Singh, 63, was battered to death with bottles of wines pulled from his shelves during a botched robbery at Cowcliffe Convenience Stores, on Cowcliffe Hill Road, on February 20 last year.

His son Jas Singh Hayre, 36, has just returned from India, where he went with his nephew, 12-year-old Amandeep, and his uncle, Ajit Hayre, to scatter his father’s ashes.

Jas said: “We still feel cheated.

“What those people did was unforgivable. They had no reason, as normal ordinary people, to attack somebody with so much ferocity.

“They chose to hit him nine times. It wasn’t an accident – they hit him so many times to ensure he didn’t get up.

“For me the hatred will always remain.”

A father-of-three and grandfather-of-five, Mr Singh was working alone at his corner shop when a gang burst in on the night of February 20.

When he refused to hand over cash and cigarettes, he was repeatedly bludgeoned about the head.

Several customers from the Shepherd’s Arms pub opposite ran to the shop and tried to get in to stop the assault, but all of the gang escaped.

They took just a handful of cash, sweets and cigarettes.