Four convicted of murder after DPD van ambush

AN armed mob who chopped at a parcel delivery worker’s head and hacked off part of his ear with an axe while he was making deliveries have been convicted of his brutal killing. DPD employee Aurman Singh, from Smethwick was part of a twoman crew working in Shrewsbury when he was brutally ambushed by masked thugs in a chilling spate of violence which lasted just ‘seconds’. The 23-year-old was slaughtered in broad daylight with weapons including a 3.5-lb axe, golf club, wooden stave, metal bar, hockey stick, shovel, knife and cricket bat.

Aurman’s workmate fled, shouting at his friend to run for his life after spotting the weapon-wielding killers hunt down his colleague. But Aurman only managed to sprint a few yards before collapsing to the ground and falling victim to a vicious onslaught.

A total of five men denied murdering Aurman, from Smethwick, pictured, at Stafford Crown Court.

Jurors convicted four of them of murder. They now face life sentences for their horrific execution in Berwick Avenue, Shrewsbury, on August 21 last year.

Arshdeep Singh, 24, of Shaw Road, Tipton; Jagdeep Singh, 23, of Goodrich Mews, Dudley, Shivdeep Singh, 27, of Greenfield Road, and

Manjot Singh, 24, of Greenfield Road, both Smethwick, were convicted of murder.

Sukhmandeep Singh , 25, Greenfield Road, Smethwick, was acquitted of murder but convicted of manslaughter. All five men will be sentenced at a date to be fixed.

Four men – Harpreet Singh, Mehakdeep Singh, Harwinder Singh Turna and Sehajpal Singh – are still wanted in connection with the case. They are said to have been taken to and from the scene of the killing in a Mercedes.

A trial which started in February at Stafford Crown Court heard how police pieced together the movements of the killers and their victim in the leadup to the murder.

Footage from CCTV captured Aurman walking into DPD’s depot in Stoke-on-Trent just after 6.52am.

Just before 7.15am, he was seen behind the DPD van before it was to be loaded with deliveries. Defendant

Sukhmandeep Singh, who was not present during the deadly attack but described as the ‘inside man’ offering up information on the victim’s whereabouts, was seen using a mobile phone. He was said to have taken a picture of the DPD van and sent it to his accomplices, jurors heard.

An Audi, which carried the convicted killers to the scene, and the Mercedes were captured in Shaw Road, Tipton just before 9.50am.

Both cars then travelled to get fuel from Esso, in Dudley Port, Tipton, before stopping in the car park outside Castlefields Community Hub, in Shrewsbury.

Jurors heard how the DPD van was spotted just after 1pm, with both cars following it as it travelled up Berwick Avenue before the attack.

A police helicopter captured the Audi in Amphlett Croft, in Tipton.