A hard-working pillar of the community, Gurmail Singh, died defending the business he had spent his retirement building.
He was attacked and killed by a gang of teenagers in his corner shop in Huddersfield.
Now the documentary Murder Scene: The Incident Room – Killers at the Corner Shop, which airs at 8pm on Channel 5 on Wednesday 23 April, reveals the police hunt for his killers.
We take a closer look at the horrific crime and what happened to those who perpetrated it.
Mr Singh ran his corner shop in the quiet suburb of Cowcliffe in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.
The 63-year-old had bought the business six years earlier as a retirement project.
After arriving in Yorkshire from India in 1963, he worked in a mill and then for a pipe-making firm before taking early retirement and investing in his local shop.
Mr Singh’s son’s Jas and Bobby Singh with pictures of their father (Photo: Paramount/Channel 5)The father and grandfather had worked long hours to build up his convenience store business, delivering newspapers and groceries to those who could not get out.
On the evening of 20 February 2010, Mr Singh was working in his store when robbers entered his shop and tried to steal cash, cigarettes and alcohol.
When Mr Singh refused to hand over the cash, the robbers took bottles of wine from the shop shelves and beat him across the head before fleeing.
Smokers outside the Shepherds Arms pub opposite the shop spotted them, and one bystander managed to trap two of the assailants by holding the door closed as they tried to smash their way out.
Two other onlookers tackled the robbers as they fled through the back of the shop but were unable to stop them from escaping.
Mr Singh, who had celebrated his 63rd birthday a day earlier, was found lying on the shop floor severely injured and bleeding.
He died the following day in hospital.
How long were Gurmail Singh’s killers jailed for?
Muawaz Khalid, then aged 20, and Nabeel Shafi, then 18, both from Huddersfield, were convicted of Mr Singh’s murder after a six-week trial at Bradford Crown Court.
During the trial, the court heard how he was badly beaten after he refused to “meekly hand over his property, his hard-earned money” during the robbery.
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In November 2010, they were both sentenced to life imprisonment.
Khalid was told he must spend at least 21 years in prison, while Shafi was given a 20-year minimum term.
Sentencing judge, Mr Justice Henriques, said at the time he accepted the murder had not been premeditated but the attack had been carried out on a vulnerable man carrying out a public service.
Three other Huddersfield men were also sentenced in connection with the case.
Rehman Afzal, then 18, from Fartown, was jailed for five years and four months for robbery, and Umare Aslam, then 20, from Dalton, was given a six-and-a-half year sentence for the same offence.
And another 18-year-old male was sentenced to eight months for assisting an offender.
Det Supt David Pervin of West Yorkshire Police said after the trial: “The people found guilty of Mr Singh’s death will have a long time now to think about the fact that they killed a man for just a few pounds, some cigarettes and sweets.”
The detective said letters and messages of support had been sent to Mr Singh’s family from across the country, including the office of the Prince of Wales.
While Mr Singh’s son Jas said after the court case, the family were “relieved that those who committed these terrible crimes have now been found guilty”.
He said: “My mother has been completely devastated by the murder of her husband.
“Since he was killed, her health has deteriorated vastly.
“We miss our father’s patience, support, calmness, warmth, strength and love. He showed all these characteristics every day of his life.”
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