- 3 hours ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:01Every 90 seconds, someone is reported missing.
00:06Many return to their families.
00:09For others, something has gone seriously wrong.
00:13I said, look, have you seen Dageny?
00:15And I said, look, I've been told that he came to see you last night.
00:21People were making up all these different things
00:22and we didn't know what to believe.
00:25In South East London, a burnt-out car is covering up a shocking crime.
00:31The body, in fact, had been tied with some wires
00:34and also a duvet had been used to wrap the body.
00:38What happens in the police investigation that follows?
00:41This tends to be the hallmark of drugs or gang-related murders.
00:45What happens to the family at its heart?
00:48My life is finished.
00:51I'm not alive. I'm finished.
00:54When missing turns to murder.
01:11Dageny was the eldest child.
01:14So the two of us, that's me and him.
01:16His role was being the eldest son and my big brother.
01:20Yeah, we had our times where we'd argue and fight.
01:23It was typical.
01:24But overall, he was there for me and I knew he was there for me.
01:28He was doing his degree.
01:30He was running the family business in a Sikh TV channel.
01:32You're watching Sikh TV?
01:33Sikh TV.
01:35Thank you very much, Sikh TV, for being here and covering the event.
02:00At just 21 years of age, Gagandeep Singh has achieved a lot.
02:06He is proud of his religion, roots and cultural heritage, promoting them on his own TV channel.
02:13I feel that every person that's been here, regardless of what part of the world they've come from,
02:18whether they're from here in Pakistan, from the other side of the border in Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, UK, Europe, North
02:24America,
02:24I don't think there's a single individual who I've come across here or seen who would have left here dissatisfied.
02:32And in a spiritual sense, if I could say, even though money is not a way of equating what I've
02:36got to experience here,
02:38purely in a spiritual sense, it's worth every penny.
02:41Gagandeep was very strong-minded, you know, very passionate towards anything.
02:46So if it was his work, his education, religion, if he was dedicated, he would do it sort of to
02:53the point.
02:54He was, you know, very good at achieving everything that he wanted in life.
02:59He still lived at home with his mother and sister.
03:02This was not unusual in the Sikh community, but he was a devout Sikh,
03:08and in the community and in their religious upbringing, family is absolutely key.
03:14So Gagandeep would just go out of his way and he would do things and help people give.
03:26...of his community had to grow up fast, after the tragic loss of his father in 2009.
03:36Well, we was on a family holiday in India, and my dad was shot as part of a contract killing.
03:45My husband is murdered.
03:49My husband's accountant, my company's accountant, he murdered my husband.
03:58The accountant was working for us in England for about two years,
04:02and then he suddenly decided to move back to India.
04:06My dad was sending the accountant money to buy land in India, however the accountant was buying it on his
04:12own name.
04:13And then when my dad went on the family holiday, he was saying, right, now let's give me the land
04:17registry documents.
04:18But he didn't have the documents to give, because he never purchased them in my dad's name.
04:22And then rather than coming out clean, he thought, let me just, you know, hire someone and get him killed.
04:32And they hired the people who shoot my husband there.
04:41And then I'm very sick after his dad's death.
04:47I am in hospital two or three times.
04:53I think Gagandeep had to sort of be the man of the house.
04:56He had to grow up very quickly.
05:00After dad's death, he is man of the house.
05:04And all responsibilities, business, house, sister, he is very, very intelligent.
05:12Very, very.
05:18At the family home in South East London, Gagandeep and his sister, Amandeep,
05:24are setting up some keep fit equipment for their mother, Tajinda.
05:27He decided to spend the day at home with me.
05:30We fixed the machine, and we set it all up, and we were using it, trying it out.
05:34So it was a nice, relaxed day.
05:36And he said he was going to a party, so my mum didn't stop him.
05:39Because he didn't really attend many parties, because he was so busy with work and, you know, studying.
05:44Then he asked me, nearly six o'clock, he asked me,
05:48Mum, I want to go out.
05:50I go, where?
05:50He said, I have one party with friends.
05:54Then he gone and changed her clothes.
05:56Seven o'clock, he said, bye-bye, Mum.
06:02I said, when you come back?
06:05He said, bit late, Mum.
06:10Gagandeep takes the family car, a Mercedes, which is used mostly by his sister.
06:15He just said he'll be late.
06:16Well, he left at seven, so we assumed, you know, twelve, one, he'd be late.
06:20And we thought we'd just go to bed and he'll come home when he comes home.
06:27I go upstairs, in my room, and whole night, I never sleep.
06:49I received a call in the early hours of the Saturday morning and was notified that a vehicle had been
06:55found on fire near Blackheath.
07:03This is a dirt track, really, quite secluded road, just off the main route from London down to the M25.
07:13And it was in the early hours, about three o'clock in the morning, when the local CID were patrolling.
07:20They saw a car on fire.
07:22They called the fire brigade, who attended very quickly, extinguished the fire.
07:27So we were woken up by someone banging on the door quite loudly, which scared us in the first place.
07:35And I've come down, opened the door, and there's officers outside.
07:39And they've started asking straight away, where Gagandeep is?
07:42Where did he go?
07:43Have you spoken to him?
07:45So our mind sort of diverted to, like, what has he done?
07:49Like, you know, we were quite shocked, like, what's happened?
07:51That the police are looking for him, as if he's wanted.
07:54And the policeman said, this is Gagandeep's house.
07:58He said, yes.
07:59We were very shocked about, you know, like, what on earth is going on.
08:05She informed us that she'd lent her car to her brother the night before.
08:10And Gagandeep had told her and her mother that he was going to a party that night.
08:17Jess, come here and tell me, where is Gagandeep?
08:20He said, no, no, you tell us where is Gagandeep.
08:23He said, only party.
08:25Where is party? I don't know where is party.
08:29Nearly one hour, they're asking this type of silly question, where is Gagandeep, where is Gagandeep?
08:36Then they said, we find Gagandeep's car in Greenwich.
08:45With a dead body.
08:51So this is the exact location where the car was found.
08:55The body was inside the boot, so there was no one in the shell of the vehicle.
08:59And the body, in fact, had been tied with some wires and also a duvet had been used to wrap
09:05the body.
09:06It was raining quite heavily, so we wanted to preserve the scene, so we cordoned off the road.
09:12Got a forensic tent down to protect the vehicle and did some initial work in and around the vehicle
09:18before the body of the deceased was removed from the car and taken to the mortuary.
09:24And then the car itself was totally lifted and taken to one of our forensic facilities.
09:30This was a very serious and horrendous crime.
09:36Not the first person to be burnt in the boot of a car.
09:40This tends to be the hallmark of drugs or gang related murders.
09:48So from about four o'clock, slowly it came out that there's a body in the car.
09:54When the family were informed, they were clearly desperate to find out where Gagandeep was.
10:01He wasn't answering his phone and they were trying to piece together where he could possibly be.
10:09So I made several calls. I need to call other people that he would see on a regular basis.
10:15So then I started making calls to his friends.
10:18We then put out our own appeals on Facebook, texting people, calling people.
10:22So we tried to find out ourselves because we needed answers and we couldn't wait or rely on just the
10:27police doing their bit.
10:29Whether he had done something or something happened to him, we didn't know.
10:31But the fact was he was missing. So there was all these rumours about him committing suicide.
10:38People were saying that, oh, he was feeling quite low off his dad's death.
10:41People were making up all these different things and we didn't know what to believe.
10:46Police must quickly identify the body of a male from the burnt out car and locate the driver.
10:52Gagandeep.
10:55Nearby CCTV holds a clue.
10:58To where we are now, there was a fisheye wall-mounted camera.
11:02The significance of that was that it captured two suspects leaving this location.
11:10But it was an extremely grainy image, really quite an important image.
11:15Despite the fact it didn't visually identify anyone, it fitted into the timeline.
11:22One of the suspects was wearing a turban and he gave us a direction of travel for the suspects.
11:29So as the day went by, the police were giving us bits of information, but we were told in very
11:34small bits.
11:38I think that time, maybe Gagan's car, he gave to friends.
11:47Because always Gagan gave car to his friends.
11:50I said, maybe friends done this murder in his car.
11:57And now he ran away.
12:02And I asked, please, you arrest somebody with Darwin?
12:09They said no.
12:10Ask the police stations, anybody arrest Gagandeep?
12:14They said no.
12:18This investigation from the outset was a challenge.
12:20You know, there were no eyewitnesses at all.
12:23It was obviously in the early hours of the morning.
12:26Secluded location, no direct CCTV on the vehicle itself.
12:30And in due course, we examined in minute detail the vehicle in terms of DNA or the potential for DNA
12:36in fingerprints.
12:37When you first start investigating a murder, you do start to form your own opinions on what may have happened.
12:46When you're talking about a body that's been burnt out in a car, one of your thoughts will be, is
12:52this related to gangs in some way?
12:57So, as the day went on, and there was no idea where Gagandeep was, at that point we were thinking,
13:03could it be that Gagandeep has killed someone?
13:05You know, that he'll go to prison and he'll come back one day, you know?
13:08They were the crazy things that were going through our heads.
13:13To burn out a car in this way suggests people who are thinking about forensics and evidence and it goes
13:20beyond just your normal type of murder.
13:24This suggests they may have been planning how to destroy evidence and fire is an excellent way of doing that.
13:33Because of the fire, and obviously the fire had been extinguished by the fire brigade, the vehicle itself didn't yield
13:39any forensic evidence.
13:44Gagandeep's family are urgently trying to contact anyone who may offer up clues to his whereabouts.
13:50So, I started making calls to his friends, and as part of the friends came Mandil and Shoka.
13:57So, Gagandeep and Shoka were friends on Facebook, and Mandil was a friend of Shoka, so that's how Gagandeep got
14:04to know her.
14:05I then called another friend of Gagandeep's, who said to me he went to see Mandil.
14:11And he had told a friend that he's going to see Mandil.
14:14I then called Mandil.
14:16I said, look, has Gagandeep, have you seen Gagandeep, did he come and see you?
14:19Um, no.
14:22I don't know where Gagandeep is, I've not spoken to him in a very long time.
14:25And I said, look, I've been told that he came to see you last night, that he was at your
14:30flat last night.
14:31And she quickly turned, oh he did come, but he didn't come inside.
14:36You know, the story changed instantly, her voice changed instantly, again, sort of set off alarms.
14:43I then called Shoka, I basically, I called him and I said, look, Gagandeep's missing, do you know where he
14:49is?
14:49And he giggled in the phone, and he said, no, why would I know where he is?
14:53And I hung up, because he was giggling, that put me, it threw me right off, that something's wrong.
15:00And I almost said, why he laugh?
15:04Look, Gagandeep is his friend, why he laugh?
15:07And I said to police, ask Shoka, where is Gagandeep, and ask Mandal.
15:14Both people know where is Gagandeep.
15:19The Metropolitan Police, leading the investigation, are also starting to uncover new clues.
15:26We started to bring together the different strands of evidence from ANPR, from the car, from phone evidence, from speaking
15:33to witnesses.
15:35I told the police, I said, look, I've made calls, and this is what I found, right, so can you
15:40please follow it up?
15:41They must have had their investigations in the background anyway, but that then was a key link.
15:53We spoke to the family, and they informed us that they'd been told Gagandeep had travelled down to Brighton to
16:02see a female by the name of Mandil Mahil.
16:05So now it was important for us to understand, well, who is this person, and how does she fit into
16:10his life?
16:11Gagandeep, Mandil Mahil was also a high-flying young lady.
16:21Very attractive, very intelligent.
16:23At school, she had ten A-stars at GCSE, three A's at A-level, and was clearly on the way
16:30to university.
16:31She wanted to be a doctor, and had in her mind set, equally determined to achieve her aims.
16:40She was also from a strict Sikh background, in which relationships between young men and young women is strictly controlled.
16:50So mum knew a bit more about Mandil, as Mandil had visited the family home, and mum wasn't very comfortable
16:57with the fact that, you know, a young girl has come to her house, and it was quite late at
17:01night.
17:02How can she spend five, six hours here? First time she came here, and nobody knows what.
17:09All I remember is mum having a conversation with Gagandeep, saying that, in our culture, that's not, it's not done,
17:15it's not okay, that a girl shouldn't be out so late at night, and I don't think she's right for
17:19you.
17:20And I said to Gagandeep, this word, vampire, she is like this.
17:28Don't be friend, and don't too close to that girl. She's not very nice.
17:34Even though she was from a devout Sikh background, there was something about her that the family didn't like.
17:41Maybe they suspected the truth. He was besotted with her, but I think the family must have sensed that she
17:47wasn't besotted with him.
17:51I think Shokar did look up to Gagandeep, because Gagandeep had a lot to offer.
17:55So, for example, Gagandeep gave Shokar a car to drive around for free.
18:03Shokar, he gave him a job to help, because he is not educated. He's not going to school. He gave
18:13him a job because he is peptides sick as well.
18:19Shokar presented as being very timid, so very shy, timid person.
18:35Gagandeep's sister and mother were obviously very worried about, you know, was the body in the boot their son and
18:44brother.
18:46So they told us on the day that they had seen a person with a turban on CCTV camera.
18:52So there was a small hope that it's him that's, you know, running away from the scene.
18:56Now, that placed him in a bit of a dilemma, because it would have indicated that perhaps if that was
19:01Gagandeep,
19:02he may have been involved in the awful event that had happened when the body had been found in the
19:07boot of the car.
19:08So that's the route we went down, like, mentally was preparing ourselves,
19:11OK, he has killed someone. Not did we want to believe the fact that he is the one that's been
19:16killed.
19:16I think as a family, that's what anybody would want to believe.
19:20The extensive Sikh community is galvanized into helping the worried family.
19:26Everybody put this news in Facebook, because that time I have a TV channel,
19:33and I put the news on the TV channel, and I said I give £50,000 if somebody give me
19:40news.
19:42And my old relatives, Gagandeep's friends, everybody tried to find Gagandeep their own way.
19:50There are positives in terms of what the family did, because they're keeping it in the public mind.
19:55They're appealing for information, which is always a positive thing, because, you know,
19:59someone may see that on social media and contact the police or the family and say,
20:03look, we saw Gagandeep.
20:07The investigation will rely heavily on the results of the pathology report.
20:13What was important in this case was identification, because of the state of the remains,
20:18because they were obviously charred and burnt.
20:21So we pursued forensic opportunities.
20:25He had blunt force trauma to the head and to his body.
20:29He had swelling to his brain, and he had significant bruising across his body.
20:38So the police came, they took the toothbrush, and they took care from his comb and from his pillow.
20:44That was the DNA sample that they took.
20:47These were then cross-compared with samples taken from the body at the post-mortem.
20:54And it was confirmed that the remains found in the boot of the car were indeed those of Gagandeep Singh.
21:05My mum was taken to hospital, because she was getting chest pains.
21:09So it was decided to take her into hospital.
21:13And when they said that they had the confirmation of whose DNA it was,
21:17they said it was best to tell her while she was at the hospital,
21:20because she would have a medical team around her.
21:24We were worried what her reaction would be, once she'd been told definitively that actually it was her son in
21:31the car.
21:31I think at that point the priority was my mum.
21:34He's gone, I don't want anything to happen to her.
21:37So it was really to get her back onto her feet, to make sure the doctors check her over, that
21:42she's okay.
21:43The family were very distraught. They were hoping it wasn't Gagandeep.
21:49And it's always very difficult when the family wants to view the remains.
21:54And the body's either in a decomposed state, or in these circumstances in a child state.
22:00We advised them this wouldn't be very pleasant, but they were insistent.
22:06And what the police has said is that his body has been burnt quite badly.
22:10Do you really want to see him?
22:12They said that, look, your mum's not well, does she want to risk going?
22:16And they actually made her sign a document that she's going willingly.
22:20And I was shown pictures on a camera.
22:23And then I agreed.
22:25Regardless of what he looks like, we're going.
22:28So a couple of close family, me and my mum, and then we went to the coroner's office.
22:32And then we did see him there.
22:34Vern is all warm, black.
22:40No skin on the body.
22:44And one eye is gone inside.
22:53So it was more that we needed to be there for him.
22:57I think if I didn't go, I'd never be able to move on.
23:01You know, and we had a discussion at home.
23:03I had friends telling me that you don't need to go.
23:06You can remember him as, you know, as he left home.
23:10You've got that image and you can live with that.
23:12And I thought, no.
23:13I need to see him.
23:14And I need to see what they've done to him.
23:21Everybody cry, everybody.
23:25Yes, yes.
23:26Very hard.
23:27Very hard.
23:28Very hard.
23:28My life is finished.
23:30I'm finished.
23:31I'm not alive.
23:32I'm finished.
23:37With confirmation that the body in the mortuary is Gagandip Singh, who is responsible for his death.
23:52Mundil Mahil was somebody that Gagandip had formed a relationship with a year or two previously.
24:00But they had some sort of a fallout six months previously.
24:06Gagandip became besotted with Mahil.
24:09In his eyes, she could do no wrong.
24:11And this is the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.
24:16Unfortunately, she didn't reciprocate.
24:19She liked him as a friend.
24:22Obviously, we have to approach these inquiries quite delicately
24:25because we don't know the status of the individuals that we're talking to.
24:29You know, are they suspects or are they associates of the victim?
24:33So there's a careful line to tread, just trying to establish the facts.
24:38Police need to establish where Gagandip went in his sister's Mercedes the night before.
24:46One of the ANPR cameras that was activated was in a service station on the M25.
24:55What the CCTV showed us that it was Gagandip and he had gone into the shop and bought a cuddly
25:02bear.
25:07And then the vehicle travels further around the M25.
25:13So he then goes down the M23 and it's clocked, heading towards Bryston.
25:19Gagandip had told his family that he was going to a party.
25:23He didn't tell her that he was going down to Brighton to see Marhill.
25:28The sequence of CCTV footage reveals the car being driven to a suburb of Brighton
25:36and to the road where Mundil Marhill is registered as living.
25:42The decision was made to send police officers to Marhill's home, a student accommodation in Gladstone Place in Brighton.
25:54We entered the address where Mundil Marhill lived.
25:58Mundil Marhill was nowhere to be seen.
26:00We examined her bedsit and it was clear that inside her bedroom there had been some sort of struggle and
26:10violent acts.
26:12We found blood at that location.
26:17As well as the blood spattering that we found inside Mundil's bedroom,
26:21we also found a camera tripod, which we believe was the murder weapon that was used to cause blood force
26:29trauma on Gagandip.
26:31That had resulted in blood deflecting in various directions within that room.
26:37So there was blood on the floor and on the wall.
26:40Bear in mind the circumstances of the body being found in a duvet.
26:44There was a brand new duvet cover that we found a receipt for
26:48and that had been purchased on Saturday morning in Brighton.
26:55And also they spoke to some neighbours and really significantly what they were able to establish was
27:02a local resident was looking out of their window
27:06and saw what she described as two men carrying a heavy object
27:11and placing it into the boots of a car.
27:17And so they were so alarmed by this that they took down the number plate.
27:24And of course the number plate turned out to be the Mercedes owned by the Singh family.
27:32Police also speak to other students who live in the shared house.
27:35We began to obtain accounts from witnesses that described the fact that Shoka was somebody that they'd known
27:43from previous times who had visited the address.
27:46So from that we understood that Mundil had gone and picked two guys up from Brighton Railway Station that night.
27:56One of whom was Shoka and the other guy was Darren Peters.
28:02Peters was a bike mechanic, petty criminal.
28:06He had a history of offending for things like theft of motor vehicle.
28:11He was a friend of Shoka onto school together.
28:16So we collected CCTV that depicted Mundil's car arriving and parking at or near Brighton Railway Station.
28:27And then we have footage of her meeting Shoka and Darren who've arrived at Brighton from the train
28:35and we see them depicted all together on Brighton Railway Station on the concourse.
28:40We were later to find other CCTV that indicated that Ravinda Shoka and Darren had bought some petrol cans.
28:51Which was clearly relevant in terms of carrying out the offence.
29:03With so much CCTV evidence, police arrest the three suspects.
29:10Harinder Shoka, Mundil Mahal and Darren Peters.
29:19The decision was made to arrest Shoka on suspicion of Gagandeep's murder.
29:23He was arrested at around 1am on the Sunday morning.
29:29When a person is arrested, they're brought into a police station.
29:32They will be looked at by a police doctor.
29:35To identify any injuries they may have that would indicate that they were involved in anything violent.
29:41And what the examination of Shoka showed is that he had a broken hand.
29:47We thought that injury was sustained during the attack on Gagandeep.
29:53Shoka had a solicitor and as a result of the advice that was given to him, he made no comment.
30:00We received a phone call from Mahil.
30:04Saying that she was close by the Lewishman police station where we worked and that she was willing to come
30:10in and speak to us.
30:12Which was actually quite a surprise. We weren't sure whether or not she was going to voluntarily come in.
30:17That's what she did. She came into the police station and it was there that she was arrested on suspicion
30:22of murder.
30:25When you consider the nature of the horrendous murder, you would not in a million years have thought that someone
30:31like Mahil was fitting the profile.
30:36A bright, attractive, intelligent, single woman devoted to her career as a future doctor.
30:44She volunteered to us that Gagandeep had visited her in Brighton but had left safe and well under his own
30:51steam and wasn't in any way physically harmed.
30:54She didn't appear to be concerned about the fact that she was being interviewed for a murder.
31:02She tried to portray herself as an innocent person in this.
31:08I think she probably came across as quite cold to be honest.
31:12During the course of the police interviews,
31:15Mundil alleged that Gagandeep had attempted to rape her about six months previously.
31:21And the relationship effectively broke down.
31:24Gagandeep had apologised to her and tried to mend relationships.
31:32This information became important because we believed it could have been a motive for the murder having taken place.
31:45If Gagandeep done this to Mundil, why Mundil not tell to police their time?
31:53And Gagandeep is a very popular man in the community.
31:57Why does she not go to temple and tell other people Gagandeep is like this?
32:04She never indicated to us why she never formally reported it to anyone, no.
32:12Police use every lead to put together a picture of events and potential motives of the three suspects.
32:22Building up a timeline of events is really important in a murder investigation and telephones are fantastic for that.
32:29And the picture we were building up was that there was communication from Gagandeep to Mayhill.
32:37And it was almost as if Mayhill was then reporting back to Shoka the conversation she was having with Gagandeep.
32:45As if she was letting them know that he's getting closer, he's nearly here, he's coming down to Brighton.
32:51When you're looking at the telephone evidence in a murder, the first person you're going to phone after a murder
32:56is so important.
32:58You're not phoning someone up for a casual conversation.
33:00You just killed someone, you're making a telephone call.
33:03The next phone call that Shoka makes is an 80 minute call to Mayhill.
33:08That is hugely relevant, hugely important.
33:11That for me made it clear that Mayhill was part of the whole murder.
33:19Shoka and Gagandeep had been good friends for a number of years before this alleged incident six months previously with
33:27Mandil.
33:28You know, was it an attempted rape or, you know, to what extent?
33:32She calls it attempted rape.
33:33I think we were more of, it was probably made a pass that was unwanted, but...
33:40And subsequent to that point, relationships had sowed between the two of them.
33:45And, you know, it's my belief that Shoka had intentions in terms of trying to build a relationship with Mandil.
33:52What we were being told by Gagandeep's family and friends was that the dynamics around this three-way relationship were
34:01starting to cause issues, a rift between Shoka and Gagandeep.
34:09Now, Shoka was a completely different character to Gagandeep.
34:13He, who had a sort of gangsterish image, he liked to smoke cannabis.
34:18And that sort of risky, edgy element really, really appealed to Mayhill.
34:24I think there was clear jealousy from Shoka's perspective in relation to the relationship that Gagandeep had had with Mandil.
34:34And I think part of the reason he became involved in this is that he wanted to garner her affections
34:40and would have done anything as a consequence.
34:43He was besotted with Mandil, you know, he wanted to please her.
34:49She knew how to play with his mind.
34:51She used him to get the task done.
34:55They were friends, but buying for the affection of Mahill started to drive a wedge between them.
35:02And it appeared that there were elements of potential jealousy from Shoka towards Gagandeep, who was much more successful than
35:10him.
35:11He was an entrepreneur, he had his own TV station, whereas Shoka was a trainee electrician.
35:19He was far less successful than Gagandeep.
35:21And when you're investigating the murder and you're looking for potential motives, this was definitely jumping out at us.
35:28I think where Gagandeep was quite well known, quite well spoken, well educated, Mandil was as well.
35:35You know, she was studying medicine.
35:37She was, you know, quite educated, went to university, Gagandeep went to university, and Shoka hadn't achieved that.
35:44So they had more in common.
35:46And I think he didn't like that.
35:53Shoka and Mahill were charged in relation to Gagandeep's murder.
36:03And then Darren Peters is arrested on the Monday morning, following the finding of the body on Saturday.
36:11Peter's had minor previous convictions. He was not particularly intelligent.
36:17And it was my view that Shoka had convinced him to come along to assist in whatever was about to
36:24unfold.
36:25He lived with his mum.
36:26And we went there. I knocked on the door. The door was opened. Darren came downstairs.
36:31And I said to him, we're investigating a murder, a car burnt out in Blackheath, body in the boot.
36:38And for me, this is a really important stage of a murder investigation.
36:42I like to, when I'm arresting somebody, I like to look them in the eye. How do they react?
36:47The response I got from Darren Peters, I found actually quite surprising because there was nothing.
36:55It was like, there was no, there was no acknowledgement of the seriousness of the words I just used to
37:02him.
37:02And I said to him, do you understand what I'm saying to you?
37:05And he just kind of looked at me and almost nodded as if like, there was nothing to it.
37:10There was no, there was no, there was no fear. There was no upset.
37:14And then his house essentially was then treated as a crime scene.
37:18And in there, we found two petrol cans.
37:21This was the type of evidence we were looking for to link him to the murder.
37:25We know that two petrol cans were used, bought petrol to, to set fire to the car.
37:31Darren Peters is now also charged with the murder of Gagandip Singh and is remanded in custody.
37:51So the funeral happened three months after his death and that was because there was different post-mortems had to
37:57be done.
37:58So there was one of the body and then one of the brain.
38:08So, you know, the emotions were high on the day of the funeral.
38:13The people were crying, there was so much going on.
38:16However, it was a celebration of his life and it showed how many people loved him and looked up to
38:22him.
38:22So there was an element of respect.
38:25Everybody that turned up, for us they were strangers, but they came to show their respects to him.
38:31And, you know, it was very proud that I'm his sister, you know.
38:35So they wanted to see who's the sister, who's the mum.
38:37So it was a very proud moment.
38:40That time nearly 10,000 people.
38:44In the temple and funeral place.
38:48From my home to the auditorium.
38:53And the road is everywhere is flower on the floor.
39:16It's nine months between the murder and the trial opening at the Old Bailey.
39:20I go every day in the court.
39:24I don't want to miss any single day.
39:28I want to find out what happened to my son.
39:31When we went to court, there was a lot of press there.
39:34There was our own press, so we had our own media as well.
39:36So our Sikh media also turned up because they wanted to cover it as well.
39:46That sort of helped us, you know, feel that our people are there.
39:52There were many things media were excited about.
39:55Finding out, what was this love triangle about?
39:57What was the motive for killing this poor man?
40:02My impression of Mundil during the course of that trial
40:06is she portrayed herself as being slightly aloof.
40:10From the other defendants, she made a big play about the fact
40:14she'd worked for a medical aid charity abroad.
40:17She was trying to portray a different persona
40:22to the one that had been manipulative
40:24for coordinating the events of what had happened in Brighton.
40:27In the courtroom, everybody was saying all these things.
40:30Everybody was defending themselves, questioning each other,
40:33pointing fingers at each other.
40:34While the jury was told, Gagandip was, in fact, still conscious
40:39when the car was set alight.
40:41And that immediately sparked almost a gasp of, you know,
40:45what sort of horrendous murder was this?
40:49This man was burnt alive in his prison in the boot of that car,
40:56engulfed in flames.
40:58Two key pieces of evidence that the prosecution showed the jury
41:02and made an impact on the jurors involved two texts.
41:06The first Gagandip had sent to Mahil on his way to Brighton.
41:11Maybe he smelt a rat.
41:13Maybe he thought there might be a trap.
41:14Clearly he hoped there wasn't going to be.
41:18But he sent a text to us saying,
41:19are we going to talk civil or is it that you just want me dead?
41:26And a text message went from Shoka to Mahil.
41:32I've done the job.
41:33I'm ready to go to prison for you for 21 years.
41:36We will still be waiting for me,
41:38which I think is a really strong indicator of the motivations.
41:44The prosecution case was built around different pieces of CCTV.
41:50Firstly, CCTV of Gagandip on his way down to Brighton,
41:54stopping off, buying a teddy to give to Mahil.
41:59You could see here was a man coming in peace,
42:01hoping to patch up a previous relationship.
42:04Secondly, at Brighton station.
42:07Mahil went to the station to collect Shoka and Darren Peters
42:11and the CCTV catches them all smiling together,
42:14almost as if they were looking forward to the plans ahead.
42:18Also CCTV of Gagandip's Mercedes pulling up outside
42:22Gladstone Place in Brighton.
42:24And then, I think very tellingly, CCTV from the petrol station
42:29where the Mercedes pulls up, two figures get out,
42:32clearly Shaka and Peters, to buy a jerry can of petrol.
42:37Meanwhile, in the boot of this car, there had to be a semi-conscious Gagandip on his way to his
42:44death.
42:48I think what was quite interesting was that Shoka had been infatuated with Mundil,
42:55yet they're in the dock together, there was absolutely no discussion between the two of them.
43:00And then you've got a situation where Shoka is blaming Peters and Peters is blaming Shoka,
43:06and it just made for interesting theatre during the course of the trial, really.
43:10That each of them have withdrawn into separate camps in terms of how they're managing their defences.
43:17Everybody was pointing fingers at everyone.
43:19And I think by that time, Shoka understood that Mundil's not waiting for me.
43:24You know, everyone has to cover themselves now.
43:27At trial, Peters essentially said that he didn't know what he was getting into.
43:31He thought he was going with Shoka to steal a car and didn't know about the body and the boot.
43:38Even his answers that he gave were very vague.
43:41But then the barrister relied on, oh, he has a low IQ.
43:45But when you look at the CCTV and the evidence from the witness, you know that's absolute rubbish
43:50because he helped Shoka put Gagandip into that boot.
43:54So Shoka was putting the blame completely and squarely on Baron Peters.
44:01It was all him that did it.
44:03He was the one that assaulted Gagandip.
44:06He was the one that set fire to the car.
44:09She was very clear that her only intent was that Gagandip was going to get, in her terms, a good
44:17talking to.
44:18And no sense from her that she ever envisaged the fact that he was going to be seriously assaulted or
44:24murdered.
44:25The prosecution made it clear that this was a love rivalry between Shoka and Gagandip.
44:31But the crucial element was that Marhill lured Gagandip down to Brighton.
44:39The jury had discussions for about over 40 hours to get to the conclusion.
44:45It reflected the huge amount of evidence and the nuance and mindset of each of the defendants.
44:52It was a very difficult deliberation for them all.
44:59The jury decided that Shoka was guilty of murder.
45:07And he received a life sentence with a minimum term of 22 years.
45:13Now this was by a 10 to 2 majority, so this wasn't a unanimous verdict.
45:17But they clearly decided that he had the intent to kill Gagandip from the start.
45:24And that he had taken a prime role in the beating.
45:31The judge gave punishment for 22 years.
45:38That time he cried very loud.
45:42That time Shoka cried and laid down on the floor.
45:48But she not.
45:50She not cry.
45:53She not feel shame or nothing.
45:58With that, in the text message he said, I will do 21 years for you.
46:02But then he got 22.
46:03I think he wished he never sent that text message.
46:05The judge obviously looks at all the evidence.
46:08And I'm sure that is something he looked at when passing the sentencing.
46:11Peters was convicted of manslaughter.
46:13He received 12 years.
46:16However, six was in prison and six was on license outside.
46:21Which for us, it was just he had six inside.
46:23So outside didn't really mean anything to us because he's out in the community living his life normally.
46:31Mundil's sentence was GBH with intent and she had six years.
46:37I was disappointed with the verdict, her being found guilty of a six year term of grievous bodily harm with
46:43intent.
46:45But of course I respected that. That was the verdict of the court.
46:48We believe it was the wrong decision.
46:51Yes, Darren Peters and Shoka were, you know, fine, they got an okay sentence.
46:57But with Mundil, I don't know what they were thinking.
46:59I honestly don't know how they got to that conclusion.
47:03I'm not happy with punishment, no.
47:08Mundil, she is the main person.
47:14People who are intent on murder and killing are sadly common enough.
47:22But a hugely intelligent woman who wants to be a doctor, to heal people and not to kill them,
47:29to actually plan a vicious attack is, I think, almost unheard of.
47:37It stands out in terms of you had a bright medical student who wasted her own life by acting in
47:45the way that she did.
47:46In terms of the level of planning and intent.
47:49And, you know, the waste of a life in terms of the sad loss of Gagandeep Singh.
47:55The bit that I've really struggled with is the fact that Gagandeep was alive when that car was set on
48:01fire.
48:03And how unnecessary it was, what essentially was an unwanted advance to have escalated to this level of violence.
48:12And this end for Gagandeep, to me, is just so unnecessary and such a waste of life.
48:18And my heart goes out to his family.
48:22We want Gagandeep to be remembered as the loving, caring, kind person that he was.
48:30You know, as a family, that's what we remember of him.
48:33But in the wider community, it would be how he helped his culture, his religion, help people in the community.
48:41I'll try and follow his footsteps as much as I can.
48:46After Gagandeep's death, I still make two cups of coffee every day, one for Gagandeep.
48:59And I'm taking coffee and biscuit in front of Gagandeep's picture.
49:09The shrine in the garden that we have, it says,
49:12is looking back at the memories upon the path you trod.
49:15We're blessed with the hours we had with you and leave the rest to God.
Comments