Peterborough man on trial for murder of DPD driver: Mother describes attack as 'one of the scariest moments of her life'

A mother told police how she hid her children inside in "one of the scariest moments of her life" as a man lay dying on the street outside.

Five men, including Sukhmandeep Singh, 23, from Orton Goldhay, Peterborough, are on trial for the murder of DPD driver Aurman Singh, aged 23, who died after he was attacked in Berwick Avenue, Coton Hill in Shrewsbury on Monday, August 21 last year.

The jury at Stafford Crown Court heard evidence from people who lived in Berwick Avenue at the time. One witness said Mr Singh, of Topsham Road, Smethwick, described the gruesome injuries he'd sustained to his ear and head.

A statement to police from Emma Ellis was read to the court. She told how she "screamed" when she saw the men pull up, get out of the car and unveil weapons. She said she hid her children in the house.

She said: "It was one of the scariest moments of my life. My first instinct was to get my children and make sure they were safe.

"I screamed and ran to the back garden. I called the children into the house and didn't pay any attention to what they were doing (the attackers)."

She said she then went upstairs to her daughter's bedroom to see what was going on when she saw her neighbours in the street "with disbelief on their faces".

She went outside and saw the man on the floor, before going inside to get towels for him. She described him having a "severed ear", and having a severe head wound, adding: "I think I could see his brain."

Police arrived on the scene and commenced CPR, and she went back inside her house.

Another neighbour, Mark Sneade, took to the witness box in court and described seeing a group of "at least four" men attacking with items including a shovel and a long object, "possibly a golf club or hockey stick".

He said he was drying his young daughter's hair after bathing his kids when he heard "a commotion" outside. He could hear swearing and watched out of an upstairs window for "about five seconds" before going out into the street. The attackers were driving off before he got outside. Mr Sneade took a photo of a white Mercedes he believed they "sped off" in. One witness described the car to be moving away so fast it was "bouncing".

Arshdeep Singh, 24, of Shaw Road in Tipton; Shivdeeep Singh, 26, of Greenfield Road in Smethwick; Manjot Singh, 24, also of Greenfield Road; Jagdeep Singh, 22, of Goodrich Mews in Dudley; and Sukhmandeep Singh, 23, from Orton Goldhay, Peterborough, all deny murder.

The trial continues.