Death in pub brawl (T&A 26 Feb, 1988)
Teenager was stabbed in the heart, jury told (T&A, 7 June 1989)
Victim abused before fatal attack, murder trial jury told (T&A, 8 June, 1989)
I tried to scare him, says knife-death man (T&A, 14 June, 1989)
Vicious knife attackers get life sentences (T&A 21 June 1989)
(T&A 26 Feb, 1988)
Murder squad detectives were today investigating a pub brawl which ended with a teenager being stabbed to death.
Tempers flared as a fracas broke out among a group of men at the Barrack Tavern pub in Killinghall Road, Bradford.
Dalwinder Singh, 19, was left lying in a pool of blood with stab wounds. He was rushed to Bradford Royal Infirmary but was dead on arrival.
Police were today searching the Bradford Moor area for potential weapons and four men, all belived to be Asian, were in custody being questioned about the killing.
Staff and drinkers in the pub were left stunned by the death of Dalwinder, who lived in nearby Baring avenue. Many have already been questioned by detectives who are trying to piece together the last few minutes of his life.
Police said today that they were called in last night after a disturbance broke out. A police spokesman said the coroner had been informed of the death and a post mortem was carried out overnight.
They are appealing to anybody who was in the Barrack tavern between 8.30 pm and 9.30 pm last night, who has not already been questioned, to contact Queen's Road police station on Bradford 723422.
Today the family of the dead man told how his parents were on their way to Bradford Royal Infirmary when police stopped them and broke the news that he had died.
Dalwinder, nicknamed Dali by his close-knit family, was a regular at his local. His eldest sister, Mrs Balbiro Kaur, 30, said her brother drank and played pool in the pub every night with his friends.
"He often worked late, he worked for a building firm and he just came in, had some tea and went out for half an hour," she said.
She broke down as she told how Dalwinder had been saving hard to visit another sister, Rishan, in America. "He loved travelling, he went to America last year. My sister only rang up last week to say - when's Dali coming again," she said.
Other members of the family arrived at the semi-detached house where Dalwinder lived to help comfort his distraught parents Najar and Bhejan Singh.
"It will make my mother ill. She hasn't stopped crying all night," said Balbiro.
The landlady of the Barrack Tavern, Pauline Swift, said there had been about 30 witnesses to the incident.
(T&A, 7 June 1989)
TEENAGER Dalwinder-Singh fell dying on a pub floor after he was stabbed in the heart with a throwing knife, a murder trial jury heard.
The fatal attack was the climax of weeks of bad feeling between two groups, prosecutor Michael Harrison, QC, said; at Leeds Crown Court. He said the 19-year-old received two stab,wounds to his chest and one of the blows had ebtered the heart and severed a vein.
Dalwinder, whose nickname was Dali, of Baring Avenue, Bradford Moor. collapsed in the Barrack Tavern pub near his home last February.
"He died. within a matter of minutes," said Mr Harrison, who added "There was nothing that could be done for him." . And he told the jury "One of the things that might strike you is how unobtrusive the knives were. Sightings were few and far between and indicates they were used swiftly and efficiently in order to inflict damage upon that lad. "
Milkman Harjinder Singh, 27, of Paley Terrace, East Bowling, Michael Singh, 30, a fitter, of Pasture Lane. Clayton, Mohinder Singh, 40, unemployed, of Thornbury Crescent, Bradford, and Rashpal Singh Narwal, 30, a caster, of Halifax Road, Hightown, Liversedge, have all denied joint charges of murder and violent disorder on February 25, 1988.
But Mr Harrison said "The Crown's case is these four defendants, two armed with the knives that were used, joined in a concerted attack upon this boy intending to kill him or intending, at least, to do him very serious injury."
He said that only the of the knives used in the attack had been recovered, the four-inch bladed throwing knife, which he claimed had been thrust into Dalwinder Singh's chest
Five months before the incident, said Mr Harrison, trouble had flared when Michael Singh was assaulted and wounded in a fight, probably with the dead youth and his brothers.
The brawl had started after they had returned to Bradford by coach from Wolverhampton, where they had been at a wedding of Harjinder Singh's brother in October 1987.
Dalwinder and three of his brothers were charged with offences against Micheal Singh and on the day of a committal hearing at Bradford Magistrates' Court there was a minor row between the parties.
The trial continues. .
(T&A, 8 June, 1989)
Joiner Parminder Singh Gosal told a murder trial jury a man had been insulted for about 30 minutes in a pub's pool room before being knifed to death.
"I was very surprised that he was so calm. He just stood there and took the abuse," said Mr Gosal, 26, referring to the dead man, Dalwinder Singh.
Mr Gosal said he knew the 19-year-old victim, nicknamed Dali, of Baring Avenue, Bradford Moor, because he had been a member of a football team he ran.
He told Leeds Crown Court that Mohinder Singh, accused of joint murder, had been giving Dalwinder a "lot of verbal abuse" before he was stabbed.
"He was swearing about is mother, calling her a bitch, and calling him a son of a bitch in Punjabi and also in English," he said.
Mohinder Singh, 40, unemployed, of Thornbury Crescent, Bradford, Harjinder Singh, 27, a milkman, of 27, of Paley Terrace, West Bowling, Bradford, Michael Singh, 30, a fitter, of Pasture Lane. Clayton, and Rashpal Singh Narwal, 30, a caster, of Halifax Road, Hightown, Liversedge, have all denied joint charges of murder and violent disorder.
Michael Harrison QC, prosecuting, has alleged that the killing came at the end of weeks of friction between two groups.
Mohinder Singh is alleged to have struck the first blow in the Barrack Tavern pub at Bradford Moor and then Michael Singh to have joined in and also knifed Dalwinder in the chest.
A double-edged throwing knife was recovered.
Mr Harrison alleged the four, two armed with knives, had set out to find their victim after a drinking spree and intended to kill him in a joint attack or do him very serious injury.
Mr Gosal told the jury that after Mohinder Singh had left the pool room, Harjinder Singh or Rashpal Singh Narwal had tried to knee Dalwinder in the groin. He dodged the blow then Harjinder Singh pulled a knife out from under his jacket, pulled his arm back and lunged straight for him.
"I think he stabbed him because as soon as that happened, Dali shot backwards around the table knocking a pool cue out of a player's hand," said Mr Gosal.
The trial continues.
(T&A, 14 June, 1989)
MILKMAN Harjinder Singh admitted pulling a knife out of his pocket and stabbing a teenager in a pub's pool room.
But he told a murder trial jury he had only wanted to scare 19 year-old Dalwinder Singh at the Barrack Tavern in Killinghall Road, Bradford Moor, Bradford, in February last year.
Dalwinder, of Baring Avenue, Bradford Moor, collapsed dying by the bar after he was stabbed twice, Leeds Crown Court has heard.
One blow to the chest penetrated a lung and then entered the heart and severed a vein.
A four-inch bladed throwing knife was recovered and was consistent with causing that wound and had been thrust in up to the hilt, Michael Harrison, QC, prosecuting, has said.
The other injury, to the abdomen which pierced a kidney, was caused by a single-edged knife and that weapon had never been found, he said.
Singh, 27, of Paley Terrace, West Bowling, Bradford, has denied murder and violent disorder jointly with Michael Singh, 30, a fitter, of Pasture Lane, Clayton, Mohinder Singh, 40, unemployed, Thornbury Crescent, Bradford, and Rashpal Singh Narwal, 30, a caster, of Halifax Road, Hightown, Liversedge:
Mr Harrison has alleged that the four, two of them armed with knives, joined in a concerted attack on Dalwinder Singh intending to kill him or intending, at least, to do him very serious injury.
After a drinking spree they set out to find him, they claimed, after Michael Singh had been attacked, allegedly by Dalwinder some weeks earlier.
The knifing came on the evening of the day when the dead youth had appeared before Bradford magistrates on a wounding charge.
Giving evidence on the sixth day of the trial, Harjinder Singh told the court he had not gone looking for the teenager and had wanted to go home after drinking heavily during the day.
He said he had been persuaded to go to the Barrack Tavern where he saw Mohinder Singh arguing with the teenager in the pool room and then Rashpal and Michael had gone outside and got a knife from Rashpal's van.
He took the knife off him and back inside the pub, he saw Rashpal arguing with Daiwinder and then hit him with his hand.
Hatjinder Singh said he then realised there was going to be trouble and he took the knife out of his pocket and thrust it forward to try and scare Dalwinder who had a lot of friends in the pub.
"I was frightened. I had the knife in my pocket. I pulled it out to try and break the two of them up and scare them," he said.
"I pushed it forward and it caught Dalwinder around the side of the body."
Singh denied intending anything should happen to the teenager or intending to injure him.
The trial continues.
(T&A 21 June 1989)
Three men were jailed for life for killing a teenager in a "vicious" knife attack in a Bradford pub.
Dalwinder Singh, 19, fell dying on the bar floor of the Barrack Tavern at Bradford Moor after being stabbed twice.
He was pierced in the abdomen last November while playing pool and then chased into the main bar where another man thrust a throwing knife up to the hilt into his chest. The second blow severed a main vein to his heart and Michael Harrison, QC, prosecuting, told the jury at Leeds crown Court "There was nothing that could be done for him".
Found guilty of murder were milkman Harjinder Singh, 27, of Paley Terrace, East Bowling, Bradford; Michael Singh, 30, a fitter, of Pasture Lane, Clayton; and Rashpal Singh Narwal, 30, a caster, of Halifax Road, Hightown, Liversedge.
They each denied the murder and a second charge of violent disorder on which the jury were discharged from returning verdicts.
A fourth man, Mohinder Singh, 40, unemployed, of Thornbury Crescent, Bradford, was cleared of murder but found guilty of violent disorder and jailed for two years.
The court heard that Dalwinder Singh, of Baring Avenue, Bradford Moor, died on February 25 last year only hours after he had been committed for trial at Leeds Crown court accused of wounding Michael Singh, one of the four on trial for his murder.
Mr Harrison said there was a background of friction to the case ever since Michael Singh had been attacked and wounded, allegedly by the dead man and his three brothers some weeks earlier.
After that case was committed from Bradford court, the four accused went out drinking and when they found Dalwinder Singh they joined in a concerted attack on him.
"Two were armed with knives," said Mr Harrison, who added: "They intended to kill him or at least do him very serious injury".
Passing sentence at the end of the 11 day trial, Mr Justice Rougier told the three men: "The attack upon a defenceless young man was as vicious as it was cowardly."
He said he made no recommendation to the length of time they should serve but said an automatic sentence of life imprisonment must be passed.