It was a gruesome daytime execution so horrific it left a DPD worker's head 'split in two' after being chopped at with an axe. Aurman Singh's death was chilling, leaving his 'brain exposed' and his ear severed.
Unsuspecting families enjoying the last weeks of the school summer break were left distraught after helplessly watching on as 23-year-old Aurman bled to death outside their homes. Wounds to his head, face and body were so severe he had little chance of survival.
'Gurgling' as he deteriorated on the pavement, Aurman was left surrounded by a huge pool of his own blood after being hacked to death by an armed mob. Their ferocious onslaught lasted just 'seconds' - but it was enough time for the killers to seal the fate of their target.
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Parents revealed how they quickly forced their children inside their homes as the masked men stormed their street. One mum even described it as the 'scariest moment' in her life.
Another woman told how she could not bear to look at the badly wounded victim, quickly realising 'there was nothing she could do' to save him. A total of five men, from the Black Country, denied murdering Aurman while he was making deliveries with a colleague in Berwick Avenue, Shrewsbury.
A trial - which started in February - ended today (Thursday, March 28) as jurors convicted four men of murder. They now face life behind bars for their crime, committed on August 21 last year.
A fifth man - who worked at DPD's Stoke-on-Trent depot and was said to have been the 'inside man' sharing information on Aurman's whereabouts - was convicted of manslaughter. During the trial, Stafford Crown Court heard how one mum was in her back garden at about 1pm before heading to a side door where she could see on to Berwick Avenue.
She heard a 'screech' and noticed a car stopping partially on her driveway. It was then that she spotted masked men brandishing weapons, leaving her so scared she immediately rushed to her children.
She said: "The moment I looked up and saw the men and weapons was one of the scariest of my life. My first instinct was to get my children and make sure they were safe. I did not know what these men were going to do.
"I screamed and ran to the back garden and got the children in the house and didn’t pay any attention to what the men were doing." The trial heard how the mum eventually went outside after making sure her children were safe.
She fetched some towels from inside her home, which were then placed around Aurman as he lay on the ground. His legs were 'half on the pavement', she described.
In a statement read to the court, she said: "He had a severed ear, one gash to his head and I think I could see his brain. I sat down next to the DPD man and told him "everything was going to be alright".
"He mumbled something but I could not make out what was said." Aurman started making 'choking sounds' so was put on his side by his workmate, the woman recalled.
His breathing became more shallow, with a police officer delivering CPR at the roadside. Another resident recalled how she was in her garden when she heard 'shouting'.
She said in her statement: "I heard loads of male voices shouting. I could not make out any words. I heard some thuds. I thought the voices sounded angry and assumed it was neighbours arguing in the street.
"I knew it wasn't a friendly conversation and I heard there was more than one voice. Within seconds, I ran into my house and through the house to my front window."
The woman noticed a black car drive off 'at speed' along Berwick Avenue, while a passenger inside a white car seemed seemed 'panicked and jittery'. Believing the armed gang were robbing the DPD van, the woman dialled 999.
She stepped outside as the call connected with police and spotted a concerned neighbour telling his children to go 'back inside their house'. She said: "I saw the DPD worker on the floor and realised there was nothing I could do.
"His eyes were rolling in the back of his head. There was a large pool of blood around him and he was gurgling. He had a head wound - it looked like a split in his head. I tried not to look. I didn't know what to do. I was concentrating on the 999 call."
One dad told the court how he was at home with his children when he heard a 'commotion' outside, including lots of noise and shouting. Giving evidence from behind a screen, he recalled walking to a bedroom window and seeing the masked men 'striking down' on 'something' with weapons
The men did not have 'local Shrewsbury' accents and instead sounded as if they were from Birmingham or Wolverhampton, he claimed. He watched from the window for about 'five seconds' before rushing outside to find that the killers had left.
All defendants gave evidence during their trial, telling how they had moved from Punjab, India, to the Black Country in the years before the killing. Jurors started their deliberations on Friday, March 22.
They returned these verdicts today (Thursday, March 29):
- Arshdeep Singh, 24, of Shaw Road, Tipton, was unanimously convicted of murder
- Jagdeep Singh, 23, of Goodrich Mews, Dudley, was unanimously convicted of murder
- Shivdeep Singh, 27, of Greenfield Road, Smethwick, was unanimously convicted of murder
- Manjot Singh, 24, of Greenfield Road, Smethwick, was unanimously convicted of murder
- Sukhmandeep Singh, 25, Greenfield Road, Smethwick, was acquitted of murder but unanimously convicted of manslaughter
