Tipton pair accused of murder ambush on DPD worker seen buying Starbucks just an hour after brutal killing

Stafford Crown Court has heard the first day of evidence in the trial of Sehajpal Singh, 26, and Mehakdeep Singh, 24 - both previously from Shaw Road in Tipton.

Both men deny one charge of murder relating to the shocking killing of DPD worker Aurman Singh, on a quiet Shrewsbury residential street on August 21, 2023.

Four men were jailed for 28 years each last year after being found guilty of Aurman's murder - while an inside man, who worked with the victim at DPD in Stoke and provided his killers with the means to track him down, was jailed for 10 years for manslaughter.

Eight men had driven from the West Midlands in two cars - a white Mercedes and a grey Audi - before ambushing Aurman on Berwick Avenue.

Seven of the men chased him down in the street, and used weapons including an axe, a golf club, a wooden stave, a knife, a shovel, a cricket bat, and a hockey stick, to kill the 23-year-old.

Detective Constable Simon Edwards presented CCTV evidence showing the movements of Sehajpal and Mehakdeep, who are accused of wielding a shovel and a hockey stick, on the day of Aurman's killing.

He also showed images from the DPD depot, including the 'inside man', Sukhmandeep Singh taking a photo of the front of Aurman's van, including its registration plate. 

DC Edwards said the picture was sent to the killers that morning to help them identify the van they were looking for.

Questioned by prosecution barrister, Simon Dennison KC, DC Edwards talked the jury through video footage taken from Ring doorbell cameras on Shaw Road in Tipton - where Sehajpal and Mehakdeep lived, along with another man, Arshdeep Singh, who was convicted of Aurman's murder last year.

A group of men can be seen gathering around the two cars before they leave in convoy to fill up with fuel at an Esso garage at Dudley Port.

DC Edwards showed further footage where the four occupants of the Mercedes, who included Sehajpal and Mehakdeep, stopped at Morrison's Daily off New Park Road in Castlefields, Shrewsbury, at around 11.38am.

Sehajpal could be seen walking into the shop with his phone in hand. At one point the men gather round appearing to look at a phone.

After buying fruit they leave the shop before the Audi also pulls into the car park.

DC Edwards showed the jury images which he said showed Mehakdeep with a hockey stick, shortly after the attack on Aurman at around 1pm.

He highlighted other footage which showed Sehajpal getting into the Mercedes with a shovel in hand, and Mehakdeep getting in with a hockey stick.

Both weapons were later discovered abandoned in Hubert Way in Shrewsbury.

Further footage showed the movements of the men in the hour following the attack.

DC Edwards showed the Mercedes on Vanguard Way in Shrewsbury at around 1.17pm.

At 1.20pm Mehakdeep and Sehajpal were seen walking along Little Harlescott Lane, both using mobile phones.

DC Edwards said that Mehakdeep's phone records show he had ordered a taxi to pick him up on Gloucester Road.

Footage shown to the jury then shows the pair arriving at Shrewsbury Railway Station in the taxi at around 1.57pm.

CCTV shows them walking through the ticket barriers and up the stairs to the platform, before video from inside Starbucks shows the pair ordering drinks with Mehakdeep paying using his phone.

The court earlier heard that the pair caught a train to Wolverhampton. They were arrested last year in Austria and returned to the UK for trial.

DC Edwards also showed footage of the other two occupants of the Mercedes who abandoned the car in Kynaston road in Shrewsbury before catching a bus to Shrewsbury Railway station to meet Mehakdeep and Dehajpal.

Both of the other men remain at large - the court was shown footage of one of the men boarding a flight for India and another who was last seen using a cashpoint in Smethwick.

The trial continues.