Retrial of Wolverhampton businessman over wife's murder pushed back to November
A Wolverhampton businessman accused of killing his wife has had his retrial pushed back until the end of November at the earliest.
A jury failed to reach a verdict in the original trial of Gurpreet Singh, aged 45, who is alleged to have killed wife Sarbjit Kaur in Rookery Lane, Goldthorn Hill, in February 2018.
He was, however, acquitted of offering to pay a would-be hit-man £20,000 to kill his previous wife Amandeep Kaur in 2013.
It means Singh will have spent more than two years behind bars despite having not been convicted of his wife's murder.
Following the hung jury at the original trial the Crown Prosecution Service immediately pushed for a retrial, meaning Singh was kept in custody.
The retrial was pencilled in for November 2019 but was postponed. The coronavirus pandemic, which has left courts with a backlog of cases to clear, means the trial has been pushed back even further.
Lockdown
The CPS said the trial was now listed for November 30 but many cases have been listed for dates only to be pushed back.
A spokesman said: "The case was set for a date in March 2020. Naturally this proved impossible as it was at the height of the coronavirus lockdown.
"The matter has therefore been postponed and is listed for November 30, 2020. The defendant remains in custody awaiting trial."
The jury in the original trial at Birmingham Crown Court was dismissed after members were unable to come to a verdict on the murder charge following days of deliberations.
Company director Singh was denied bail following the original trial and has remained in custody since.
Ms Kaur, 38, was found dead at the four-bedroom detached property on Rookery Lane, which connects the busy Penn Road and Goldthorn Hill.
Detectives were originally stumped and considered a burglary gone wrong before her husband was charged with her murder in May 2018.
