Indian-Origin Immigrant Jailed for 5 Years in UK Wickes Assault Case

The court sentenced Karandeep Singh, an Indian man with “no legal status in the UK,” to jail this week for assaulting a hardware store worker in Berkshire last year.

A judge in England accused an illegal immigrant from Punjab, India, of lying about his age after authorities connected him to a violent assault during a robbery at a UK home improvement store last year.

The court sentenced Karandeep Singh, the suspect, to nearly five years in prison after he failed to attend his trial at Reading Crown Court.

After the attack on a staff member at the store in Slough, Berkshire, he claimed to be 18, hoping authorities would view his crime as an impulsive act of youthful immaturity.

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Illegal immigrant from Punjab didn’t act alone

Duffy became suspicious of the two men at the Farnham Road store and confronted them after Satwant Singh picked up a spirit level. Initially, Singh claimed he intended to pay for it but later left the store without fulfilling his promise.

As Duffy tried to retrieve the item from Satwant, the latter forcefully pulled him outside. Thereafter, Karandeep struck the employee’s head with the spirit level immigrant. 

Judge Sarah Jane Campbell described Duffy’s injuries: “As a result, Mr. Duffy suffered a 9cm head wound that required glueing, and he had to visit A&E.”

She also noted that, following the attack, fear had spread among the other staff members, who became “hesitant to come into work.”

Despite Karandeep’s earlier claims about his age, he also mentioned having a 5-year-old child. While sentencing him, Judge Campbell remarked, “He has three different birthdates listed on the Police National Computer, and I must say, he appears a bit older than 19.”

The judge told defense lawyer Tobias Smith, “One of the alias birthdates suggests he’s five years older, which might align better with his appearance.” Smith responded, stating that his client had asked him to list his birth year as 2005, adding, “Some people mature at different rates.”

Highlighting Karandeep’s “no status in the UK,” the judge pointed out that he “had arrived four months before the incident.”

A trial was set for October 1, 2024, but Karandeep failed to attend. He was convicted even though he skipped the hearing.

Even after his arrest on a warrant, he denied being the person who attacked the Wickes worker. In the end, the court thwarted his “ongoing attempts to avoid justice” by collecting fingerprint evidence.

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