A ‘besotted’ husband who turned his wife into a hu

A ‘besotted’ husband who turned his wife into a human vegetable
after she confessed to having had three affairs has been jailed for
eight years by an Old Bailey judge.

Gurbachan Singh, 32, strangled wife Jane, 29 in front of their
three-year-old daughter until her lips ‘turned blue.

‘
He then desperately tried to give her the kiss of life but it
was too late for the pretty clerk.

She had sufffered permanent brain damage from oxygen starvation
and paradmedics found her writhing with convulsions.

Mrs Singh, who was studying to become a primary school teacher,
will probably need constant care for the rest of her life.

The court heard that the couple were sweethearts at school and
married four years ago.

They have two daughters now aged three
and six.

Singh worked as a ramp agent at Heathrow airport and his wife
worked as a benefits clerk for the DSS.

‘But she was not fufilled.

She felt there was more to life than
the defendant could offer said Lady Ann Mallalieu, QC, defending.

‘She became increasingly unhappy with the relationship and
started asking the defendant to move out.

She also began an Open
University course to realise her ambitions.

‘
Singh took the rejection badly and fell into a deep depression
in the Autumn of 1991.

‘He loved her very much.

He was besotted by her.

He was not
only obsessed by her but had a preoccupation with getting a
reconcilliation with her,’ said counsel.

‘He was beginning to make a public spectacle of himself, crying
and begging her to come back to him.

‘
There were reconcilliations, but eventually Mrs Singh filed
for divorce and took out a court order to keep her husband away
from her and the two girls.

Mrs Singh, nee Taylor, planned to sell the family home in
Allenby Road, Southall, and moved to Laburnum Road, Hayes, while
Mr Singh stayed with his brother in Wyre Grove, Hayes.

A few days before the attack Singh told a relative: ‘I’m
going to make her life a misery because she’s made my life a
mysery by taking my kids.

‘
On June 1 a neighbour saw him force open the door of the
Laburnum Road flat, said prosecutor Mr Nicholas Coleman.

Ten minutes later he was seen at the door with the three
year old girl, looking furtively around him.

‘By now the defendant had strangled his wife,’ said prosecutor
counsel.

Singh then called the police and announced: ‘I have just
tried to kill my wife.

She is still breathing.

‘
Officers who rushed to the scene found Mrs Singh unconscious
on the bedroom floor.

‘Every few minutes she had a fit and her body would go rigid,’
said Mr Coleman.

Singh told police he had tried to get back with his wife.

He
also said his wife had him that she had slept with three other men
during their marriage.

He sobbed: ‘I just lost my temper when she told me.

I started
strangling her and she collapsed.

‘
Singh said the three-year-old girl shouted for her mummy
as he saw his wife’s lips turn blue.

‘After I saw what I had done I tried to give her the kiss of
life.

‘
Singh, who had never had another girlfriend added: ‘I love her.

I always have.

I hope she survives.

‘
Mr Coleman told the court that Mrs Singh ‘will be left, if
she survives, which is not at all certain, in a chronic vegatative
state.

‘
Counsel told the court that the only noise Mrs Singh can make
is an incomprehensible guttural sound.

Singh denied attempted murder and the charge was left on the
court file after his plea was accepted by the prosecution.

He admitted causing greivous bodily harm with intent on June 1
last year.

Passing sentence Judge Neil Denison, QC said: ‘I take into
account that at the time of the incident you were suffering from
severe depression – that depression being brought on by the break-up
of your marriage.

‘It may be also that your mental stabilty was temporarily
destabilised by your wife’s confession.

‘I also take into account that by your own actions you have
orphaned your own children, which is a greater punishment than anything
I can impose.

‘You have reduced your wife to a vegatative state from which
she will never emerge.

‘That is a cross you will have to bear for the rest of your
life.

‘
Bespectacled Singh showed no trace of emotion as he was led
to the cells.

ENDS