The body in the boot: The horrific case of Gagandip Singh

In February 2011, 21-year-old Gagandip Singh was found in the boot of his burning car on a residential road in Blackheath. At first, police thought it might’ve been a stolen vehicle, torched for the hell of it, but what they uncovered was a calculated, deeply personal murder.

Gagandip was a rising star in the Sikh community, running his own TV channel and trying to carry on his father’s legacy after a devastating loss. But behind the smiles of those around him, darker motives were at play, and a plan for revenge was already in motion.

This is a case about blurred boundaries, obsessive jealousy, and so-called friends who crossed a line they could never come back from.

 🎧 Content warning: alleged sexual assault and graphic violence. 

Sources include:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/feb/13/mundill-mahil-straight-a-student-bright-future-then-charged-with

https://www.channel5.com/show/murdered-by/season-2/burned-alive-the-murder-of-gagandip-singh

https://www.sikhsangat.com/index.php?%2Ftopic%2F87609-mundill-mahil%2F

https://courtnewsuk.co.uk/mundill-mahil-darren-peters-and-harvinder-shoker/

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-17431845

https://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/19096061.mundill-mahil-tells-side-blackheath-honey-trap-murder/

https://open.spotify.com/episode/21t62Icg6hos4NbEfWp4Ja

https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/full-story-how-one-mans-4687888

https://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/9560309.trio-locked-up-for-40-years-over-gagandip-singh-killing/

https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/sikh-virgin-wanted-teach-murder-victim-lesson-279525

https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/modern-life-medieval-sins-indian-guilty-in-killing-of-besotted-ex-boyfriend/

Transcript

Ep 25 - Gagandip Singh

Hello. Hi, I'm Rachel. I'm Hannah.

And this is the Sinister South podcast, your weekly dose of nefarious sinister situations in South London. Someone has been practicing. Someone's on it.

I fucking love it. That's brilliant. Well done.

Thanks. Proud of you. Hello.

How are you? Hello. I am well. I'm good.

I am right in the middle of all of the coming to the end of the school term nonsense. Yes. So we've got loads of school trips.

We've got loads of days where I've got to take money in and bric-a-brac or whatever. Bric-a-brac. Yeah, school fair and shit.

But yeah, it's like every day it seems like one of the kids comes home with something that's like, oh, this is for you to do. It's like... I know it's the wrong season, but do they still do like Harvest Festival shit where you've got to give your tins in? No, my school doesn't. My school doesn't do that.

My school don't do a lot of things that normal schools do. It's great, but it's because technically we're part of what is considered a deprived area. And the school is considered to be... It attracts a lot of children from low socioeconomic backgrounds.

OK. So things that we don't even have, well, book day, we have pajama day. So everyone goes in PJs so that if you can't afford to get a costume... Because it does feel like a lot when you listen to other parents and it's like, what? Fucking hell, I'm so grateful for it.

Like, I don't have to think about it. It's just literally they're going in their pajamas and it's great. They have like this big read-along in the school hall where everyone sits in their PJs on like comfy cushions and blankets and they all read their own book and it's very sweet.

So yeah, but no, this is lots of... Yeah, what have we got? We had the school fair, which was all the bric-a-brac. Then we had like a cake sale that was for something else. Then there was a book swap.

Right. So you had to take in a book you'd already read to then swap it for one you hadn't, which was quite cute. Yeah.

Then what else have we had? I like these ones. Yeah, there's loads of them, but they just all seem to happen around the same time. So it's just like, there's no let up.

And the end of school is like, I've got... So my big one has been on... She went on a school trip last week. She's going on another one this week. She's then got a whole school trip, including parents, where they've charted a train, which I find hilarious.

Okay. School's low socio-economical, but we've got our own train. Thank you.

Yeah, so they've charted a train. So that's going to be sweet. Where are you going? Or does that give away too much? It probably gives away too much.

Down to the seaside. Going to the seaside. And then... That's the one day it rains in... Oh, a thousand percent it's going to be.

A thousand percent it's going to be. So yeah, that's good. And then... Proper laugh like an evil witch.

I love those brilliants. I mean, to be fair, I can never pronounce it. How do you pronounce Scheudenfraud? Scheudenfraud? What's the German word for when you revel in someone else's misery? It's my favourite... Rachel.

Yes. That's what I normally call it. It is my favourite emotion.

And yeah, I can never pronounce it, but... Say it again. Scheudenfraud? Keep trying. No, I'm all right.

But it's that. If anyone... If any Trevors want to actually tell me the correct pronunciation, that would be great. Because I genuinely... So you know I'm reveling in it because I was just witnessing your pain and it was bringing me joy.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Just wanted to point out that I was being clever. Anyway. Yes, so we've got like all of that going on.

And then there's things like... Oh, it's the end of term. Gymnastics thing. And then there's an end of term choir thing.

And then there's an end of term play. And then there's the rock concert. And then it's just like... When do I not have to be in the... When are they learning? When are they learning? Also, when do I not have to be here? And when can I actually, I don't know, do some work? That would be nice.

I wish we got some holidays. Oh mate, tell me about it. I am so, so wishing that I could just go... You know what? Don't need money.

Just six weeks off would be ideal. Whole month of August. I'd even go as far as just having four.

Just four. Just have August off. Yeah, it'd be great.

But no. Because they've got a mortgage. I know.

Fucking ridiculous, right? I want to be a Nepo baby. Oh, please. That would just be... It's like I keep seeing that stupid meme or gif or whatever it is.

That's like me waiting for my husband to turn around and tell me that he's actually a billionaire. And it's all been a test. Yeah, it's all been a test of my loyalty.

I'm just like, for fuck's sake. Being royally mugged off here. Which one of us would be more surprised? Neither of us, because... I mean, neither of us would see it coming.

That is for sure. If either of our other halves turned around and were like... Oh, by the way, I've actually... By the way, babe. I've actually got a lot of hereditary wealth.

Hereditary wealth? What is it? What's the word? Familiar? I don't know. Like generational? Generational. There we go.

Hereditary wealth. Well, it would be nice if it was catching. Is that what I'm saying? Oh, dear.

Yeah, some high-level generational wealth would do me quite nicely right now. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

I've just got so many things that need doing around the house. That's the thing that I'm getting. Venuous.

Venuous. I've got to sort my gutter in. Gravellocution lessons.

Yeah, I've got to sort the gutter in. Got to sort the electrics. Got to sort all this stuff.

It's just... Why is life so expensive? I don't know. I don't know. Honestly.

I can't even look at my front door without it costing me 60 quid somehow. What? How's this happened? Oh, dear. Dear, dear, dear.

How are you? I'm very well, darling. Good. Much better than last week.

Good. All is right in the world. I'm currently trying to learn how to use a Mac after years of being a PC user.

Yeah. Which I'm finding increasingly frustrating and might give up. Yeah, fair.

And just revert back to standard practice. Yeah. Because what... Don't want to tap three times lightly.

Double click twice like this. Just let me have a right click button. And before people come and tell me, you can change it in the settings.

I know. You know what I can't do is change what the difference between control and command. Yeah.

And they're in a different place. Yeah. And that bit, that's it.

Anyway. It's all what a diamond shoe problem to have. But... For once, it's you.

I know. I love it. But yeah, that's the main antagonistic element of my day-to-day at the moment.

Apart from, you know... All the other stuff. Everything. And the people.

Yeah. But can't moan. Can't moan.

I think we've just had some lovely weather and it's just been... Yeah. It has been nice. Everything's better when the sun's out.

Exactly. And you watch, I'll say this and then it was just... Oh, that'll be it. That'll be it.

The UK is experiencing the worst rainfall in 75 years. We don't do this as a live podcast, you know. As soon as... On that Wednesday, this comes out, it's going to absolutely be... Piss it down.

And that's it until January. Fucking hell. Yeah.

Yeah. But it has been nice. Well, it's lasted.

It's been lovely. Also found out that the date I took the most recent pet insurance policy out was your birthday. So you're welcome.

Thank you so much. I'm glad that you got that present for me. Well, at least you won't forget it.

There you go. There you go. The 12th of February.

Although I'll tell you what was really funny. I was talking to Will on Saturday and you know, he was helping to set up your computer. Indeed.

And at one point he had to put your date of birth in and he said that he had this mild panic because he was like, I'm not going to message her and ask her what her date of birth is because she'll get angry. I'm not going to message Rachel and ask her what date of birth because then she'll be even more angry because she'll also be like, hang on. So you can't remember my brother or my best friend's birthdays.

So he was like, so I was sitting there racking my brains and then something just popped up. I went, Google, Hitler's birthday. It's the day after Hitler's birthday.

And he worked it out. The way his brain worked. What do I do? What do I do? Hitler's birthday.

He's mad. Does he not know how egomaniac I am? He could have just gone on my own Instagram where I wished myself happy birthday. Oh, there it is.

She does her own little post. To be fair, mate, when it was your birthday, I sat and went, oh, I just realised we're both the same number in the month. Yeah, 25 years we've been friends.

So this is what I'm saying. Yeah, he had no hope, bless him. But it did just make me laugh, yeah.

Hitler's birthday. Oh, dear, dear, dear. I've got a story for you if you want it.

I am gagging for it, babe. Okey dokey. I will just turn this little lad on because it's apparently not working.

Also not a visual medium. So she's turning her computer on, not a little lad. Which is terrible phraseology for a true crime podcast.

And if this all goes down the tonne, we all know who to blame, don't we? We would have loved to have done some advertising with you. But unfortunately, Rachel keeps talking about sexually enticing young children. You are going to get me in so much trouble.

I can't help that sometimes. That's it, blame everybody else. I can't help that sometimes my mouth says things and my brain has to take a while to catch up.

I'm just going to turn this little lad on. I meant make the screen go on. Anyway.

You just meant turn your laptop on, babe. I know, but I don't mind. What's wrong with you? My brain's not working.

It's been warm. I've got Dave syndrome, right? I just can't do it. You're looking at me like you've never had Dave syndrome before.

I know what you're fucking talking about. Black books? Is it? Yeah. Bill Bailey.

I genuinely have watched that. Yeah. Well, you know what my brain's like, though.

I don't retain this kind of information. Can't go above something like 26 degrees. Otherwise, I'll completely melt down.

He calls it Dave syndrome. I've got the same thing. You remember things with such vivid detail.

Whereas I'm like, yes, I watched black books. No, I'm one of those awful people who can recite it. I won't, but I could.

Right. I'm going to tell you a story. But from the get go, I want to issue a huge number of trigger warnings.

For this one. We are mentioning alleged sexual abuse and also the murder itself is pretty brutal. Okay.

So just everyone, everyone take a trigger for those things. Also, I need to apologize up top for any mispronunciations. I have tried to be nice to myself and spell names phonetically.

Right. I am. I'm doing my best.

Yeah. But I may fall over some of them and I apologize in advance. And also just to say that there are at least two documentaries on this case.

One is called murdered. What? One is called murdered. What? Sorry.

I've just realized it's called murdered by. But I've read it in the sentence as if I'd like I've missed off a word. I haven't.

It's just called murdered by. And then sometimes it'll be my lover. Yeah, exactly.

Exactly. But the series is called murdered by anyway. And that is available on channel five.

It's season two, episode three. And there's another one called murder at my door with Kim Marsh, which is apparently on crime and investigation. Season one, episode two.

If people are interested, I have watched the channel five version, but I don't pay for crime and investigation. So I haven't seen that one. So I can't vouch for how good it is.

Okay. But just yeah. Cool.

So we're getting into it. Ready. Ready.

It's just after two a.m. in Blackheath, South London. A police car rolls slowly down a quiet lane at the end of a long and uneventful shift. Then they see it.

A car ablaze, flames licking into the night sky. At first, it looks like vandalism, maybe a stolen vehicle torched for the hell of it. But when the fire dies down and officers crack open the boot, everything changes.

Inside is a body wrapped in a duvet. His hands are bound. His skin is charred.

This wasn't a panic kill or a warning. This was someone trying to erase somebody else. Someone didn't just want him dead.

They wanted him gone entirely. The body in the boot belonged to Gagandeep Singh, who was 21 years old at the time of his death. He was seen as a rising star in Britain's Sikh community, described as charismatic and successful.

And he worked within the community as the owner of his own TV channel. But this wasn't a gangland execution. It wasn't a random attack.

Gagandeep had been lured to his death by someone he knew and he trusted. The press would come to call it a honey trap murder, a tale of jealousy, manipulation and betrayal, where a young man was drawn in not by his enemies, but by the people closest to him. And it all started with a Facebook friend request.

Wow. Is this, I don't want to spoil it for myself, but that road near where we know the person used to live? It's nearby. It's literally the next road, the next left? Possibly.

School? Yeah. That house? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I remember when it happened. There you go. Well, I might have been there at that house, not at the scene.

It might have been me. I might have been there. Yeah.

Anyway, so that was vague. If the person that used to live in that house listens, they'll know what I'm talking about as well. So who was Gagandeep Singh? Gagandeep was born in 1989 and raised in Bexley Heath, South East London, in a devout British Sikh household.

From the outside, the Singh family lived a respectable, quietly successful life. Inside their home, things were shaped by faith, discipline and a deep sense of responsibility to both family and community. Gagandeep's father, Charanjit Singh, had built up a respected packaging business from scratch.

He wasn't just a provider, he was a pillar of the local Sikh community in Plumstead, known for his charitable nature and willingness to help others. He often gave financial support to those in need and helped arrange weddings, both in the UK and in India. At home, Tajinder Kaur, Gagandeep's mother, was an emotional bedrock.

She was the one who ran the house, but she was said to be incredibly warm and very strong. She was seen to be someone that her entire family looked up to. And her faith was incredibly unwavering.

And so was her love for her children. Gagandeep was especially close to his mother and to his younger sister, Amandeep, who later described him as loving, caring and mature beyond his years. She said they bickered like any siblings, but they shared an unshakable bond.

The Singhs were financially stable, well off even, but they weren't flashy. They were proud of their heritage and deeply involved in their religious life, attending the Gurdwara regularly and participating in community events. The Gurdwara, for those who don't know, is the Sikh temple.

To those who knew him, Gagandeep was a respectful, ambitious young man who carried himself with purpose. He was, as one friend described him, a golden boy, someone who seemed destined for more. The family lived a fairly normal life up until 2009, when the foundations of their world collapsed.

So now we're going to go on a little bit of a Charanjit Singh side quest. So this is Gagandeep's father. Before the murder of Gagandeep Singh, the family had already endured a devastating loss.

15 months earlier in September 2009, Gagandeep's father, Charanjit, who was 42 at the time, was murdered while the family was attending a wedding in Punjab, India. Charanjit was known for helping to arrange marriages and offering financial support to family and friends in India. This wedding between a British man and an Indian woman was one of many that he had lent his time, money and effort to.

It was meant to be a joyful time and the family were due to fly home to the UK the following day, but Charanjit never made it back. That night, after the wedding celebrations had wrapped, he went to another party. Around 1.30am, his family received a phone call to say that something had happened and that they needed to get to the hospital.

But by the time they arrived, Charanjit was dead. He'd been murdered, reportedly in connection to a financial dispute. According to news reports, while in the UK, Charanjit had entrusted a man named either Kamal or Kumar or Kamal Kishore to purchase land on his behalf back in Punjab.

But instead of registering the properties in Charanjit's name, Kamal allegedly registered them to members of his own family. Now, Charanjit and Kamal were said to have been the best of friends prior to this. And no one really knows why he did this, why he's kind of stolen his mate's money.

But we know that there was then, you know, Charanjit was obviously pissed off. And so had said that he was going to confront Kamal when they were in Punjab. So on the night of September the 28th, he had gone to the wedding and then he'd gone to this other gathering.

He'd called his family to say that he would get home soon. But he was then found dead in the parking area of the Hotel Country Inn in Jalandhar, Punjab. A post-mortem examination revealed that he had been shot in the head, indicating a targeted killing.

Indian police investigations concluded that Charanjit's murder was a contract killing orchestrated by Kamal. Kamal had allegedly hired a man named Vipin Verma, who, along with two unidentified individuals, had carried out the attack for the sum of... Now, I'm going to say this in the way that it's said in India, and then I'll try and do it in English money. So for the sum of rupees eight lakh, apparently is how you say it, it's approximately eight grand.

Okay. Yeah. Kamal and these two accomplices were arrested while Verma initially evaded capture.

And then in May 2014, a local court in Jalandhar convicted Kamal and Vipin Kumar, also known as Vipin Verma. Right. There seemed to be lots of different names.

And they were convicted of Charanjit's murder, and they were sentenced to, and I quote, rigorous life imprisonment. I'm not entirely certain what that means, but it's what the charge was. The court also imposed fines on both convicts.

Other accused individuals were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. Charanjit Singh's untimely death left his family devastated. His wife and daughter remained in India to handle the aftermath, while his son, Gagandeep, who had returned to the UK earlier, flew back to India upon hearing the news.

The loss of Charanjit was a devastating blow to the family. And Gagandeep's sister, Amandip, stated that their mum then started to warn both of them about trusting their friends. You fucking would, wouldn't you? Exactly.

It presented this kind of slightly paranoid view on the world at home, which is just really sad. Charanjit's death was particularly hard on Gagandeep, who not only lost his dad, but found himself thrust into a position of significant responsibility within the family at the age of only 19. The trauma of losing his father never fully settled.

And after his murder, friends say that he came back different. He was more serious, more driven. He spoke openly about wanting to make a difference and about wanting to honour his father's memory.

So Gagandeep stepped up to manage the family business, which he did very well, by all accounts. He continued to ensure it was successful. And he also then became a prominent figure in his community in his own right.

One of his most notable achievements was co-founding Seek TV, a satellite television channel that launched on Sky in the UK. And Seek TV aimed to represent the Sikh community. It promoted Sikh values and spoke about Sikh history.

And the aim was to kind of create a space for young people to engage with their faith and their identity in modern Britain. A family friend had said, Gagandeep was very influential and very prominent in the Sikh community. When his father died, he had to pick everything up and he did it well.

Gagandeep was also the president of the British Sikh Student Federation, also known as BSSF, which was a major youth, or is, sorry, a major youth-led organisation serving Sikh students across the UK. It was formed in late 2008 and quickly became one of the leading Sikh student groups in the country. And in this role, Gagandeep helped to organise events and conferences, including Youth Kirtan Dabas, I'm sorry, I'm massacring the pronunciation, which are formal gatherings where multiple groups, often from different Gurdwaras, come together to perform devotional singing of hymns from the Guru Garanth Sahib, which is the central religious scripture of Sikhism.

I went on a lovely little foray into Sikhism. And then he also helped to organise the first ever Shahidi Samagam in the UK, which is a religious memorial service which is held in honour of Sikh martyrs. He also advocated for Sikh students on cultural and educational issues, promoted youth engagement, leadership and civic involvement, and he was described as a leading light in the Sikh community and a politician in the making.

He was blooming busy as well, eh? Just a bit. So, how did a man like Gagandeep find himself in the boot of a burning Mercedes in 2021? To answer that question, we first need to introduce the Trevors to a woman named Mandil Mahil. So Mandil Mahil.

Mandil grew up in Chatham-in-Kent. She was the daughter of a respected British Sikh family of Punjabi heritage, so very kind of similar background to Gagandeep. And from the outside, she was defined as the definition of promise, bright, focused and fiercely driven.

Apparently, she was a standout student at the prestigious Rochester Grammar School. She racked up top grades and won a coveted place at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, where she hoped to study to become a doctor. She came from a very close-knit household that upheld traditional Sikh values.

Her family ran a modest bed and breakfast on Maidstone Road, and by all accounts, they were devout, community-minded and very proud of their daughter's achievements. So there's lots of similarities between the two families at this point. Mandil was a regular at the Rochester Gurdwara.

She was active in charity work and she volunteered at an Oxfam shop and with children with autism. And she once told others she dreamed of joining Medicine Sans Frontieres, helping to bring medical help to people in crisis zones. So at that point, she was kind of on the up and up.

Bit of a, yeah, a golden child. She was, yeah, yeah, yeah. Ambitious.

Flying, flying. Then... What the fuck goes wrong? Well, then, in August 2009, she received a Facebook friend request from a young man she didn't know, Gargandeep Singh. They shared a mutual friend, a man named Harinder Shoker, whom Mandil had met through a Sikh martial arts club.

Okay. So she checked with Shoker that Gargandeep was genuine, and then when he said, yeah, he's a good dude, she accepted the request. They met in person not long after they kind of became friends on Facebook at a Sikh youth festival in Wolverhampton, and they struck up a friendship that quickly became quite emotionally intense.

Later that year, when Gargandeep's father was murdered, Mandil became a confidant to Gargandeep. And he kind of saw her as a real source of comfort, a voice on the phone when there was no one else to speak to. And for Gargandeep, this ended up being a bit more than just a friendship.

Yeah. He began to fall for her, and he fell for her hard. He saw her as thoughtful, spiritual, and understanding.

But for Mandil, she didn't feel the same way. She insisted that she had never felt the same way, and that she had made those boundaries very clear, but she didn't necessarily think that he hadn't kind of understood that because they maintained a friendship. They were still quite close.

But yeah, for her, it was just friends. If anything, their friendship after this actually intensified. They spoke constantly.

And one of the documentaries stated that sometimes it was up to 30 times a day. Bloody hell. She would visit his family home late at night.

And this was an act that raised quite a lot of eyebrows because dating is considered quite a taboo thing. You don't have girlfriends. This is one of the things, again, his mum says in the documentary.

It's like, we don't have girlfriends and boyfriends in our community. That's just not a thing. It's not done.

So the fact that she was turning up at all hours and stuff was a little bit... I mean, it would raise eyebrows in any religion or community, really, wouldn't it? If someone turns up at your house in the middle of the night. And just stay in there for hours, exactly. You'd at least be like, well, you definitely have something going on here.

Some feelings, yeah. But yeah, so what began as support spiraled into something that became quite a bit darker. And I'm going to be really careful about what I say next, because the next part is everything's alleged.

We believe victims. But I also want to put it out here that I think some of the terminology that is used by the people involved might not actually be the accurate terminology for what happens. So I'm putting it out there.

We'll get to it. So this relationship, as I say, it kind of spiraled into something a bit darker. It was a relationship coloured by miscommunication, unreciprocated feelings and the growing presence of a third figure, Harinder Shoker.

In the months that followed, Mundil's role would shift from friend to orchestrator. A young woman at the centre of one of the most chilling murder cases to rock the British South Asian community in a generation. The turning point.

So the tension came to a head in August of 2010. According to Mahil, Gagandeep turned up unannounced at her Brighton student flat. He claimed his car had broken down and asked if he could stay the night.

She said that she reluctantly agreed, but put very clear boundaries in place. She said that she was revising for exams, told him he'd have to sleep on the sofa, but he was welcome to stay if he wanted to. Now, I don't know how Gagandeep ended up in Brighton.

I don't know where he was or what he was doing. There's no real explanation for how he ended up being there and how his car had broken down. But this is what she says.

This is what it's said to have happened. Now, what happened next is the central point of dispute. So Mahil alleged that later that night, Gagandeep entered her bedroom and asked for a hug.

She refused, saying that her faith didn't allow for that kind of physical intimacy before marriage. According to her, that's when Gagandeep climbed on top of her and tried to pin her down. She claimed that she fought him off so that he eventually broke down in tears, apologised and fled the flat in shock at what he'd done.

Now, we'll get into it in a minute. But that sounds awful. That's horrific.

That should not have happened. I'll just read it. It'll be easier just to read it.

So Mahil didn't report it. She later said that she was too ashamed and she was too scared of any sort of cultural fallout that might happen. And in her words, as a devout Sikh woman, she feared that she'd be blamed for what had happened.

So instead, she decided to just shut him out of her life. Right, OK. Now, what followed was a flood of text messages and attempts at reconciliation from Gagandeep.

Messages that she mostly ignored. Right. And there's one particularly revealing text that he sent to a mentor.

Now, this sounds really awful. He writes, I tried to rape my best friend. I don't know what to do.

Now, it's worth pausing here to acknowledge the complexity of this attempted rape allegation. From everything that I've read, from the documentaries I watched, the documentary I watched, I kind of want the documentary is a difficult one because it's solely focused around his family and his friends. So what they say could be very much taking his side over hers.

But from everything I read around the case, it seems like the phrasing of attempted rape is not actually there was no actual sexual assault attempted. It was more physical intimacy. So it's the idea of, yes, he got on top of her, but it wasn't.

It was over covers. There was no clothes off. Didn't take her clothes off.

There was no clothes off. There was covers in between them. It was it was more of a. I mean, it's still fucking mental.

You still shouldn't do it at all. But it feels very much like it's because that level of physical intimacy in any way is kind of frowned upon. It's almost like they've both.

So kind of maybe culturally, they're calling it attempted rape, even though. Kind of under Western law. Yeah, it's not.

No, but yeah, I just think it's it's OK. Yeah. So the language used by both Gagandeep and Mundell at the time is incredibly serious.

However, the version of events, this version of events was never tested in court and there are loads of different accounts. So apparently she told different people different things. OK.

He told different people different things. I mean, that text is pretty damning. Yes, it is.

Not saying that. So he deserved anything or whatever. But like.

Yeah, no, and this is the thing. There's lots of emotive language. Yeah.

So it's yeah. Some friends said that Mahil had not initially described the incident in terms that suggested any physical force, but rather as Gagandeep trying to get into her bed uninvited, an act that, while inappropriate and deeply disrespectful, would not constitute attempted rape in the legal sense. So I just wanted to put that out there because there's a lot that flies around about it.

And I think it's important to kind of cover that. Even the prosecution acknowledged that there was uncertainty about whether this act had crossed the threshold of criminal assault or was instead an unwelcome advance made worse by religious and emotional context. Right.

So nonetheless, both Mahil and Gagandeep would go on to refer to it as attempted rape. And she, in conversations, would ultimately fuel the fatal revenge plot that came after this. So for Mahil, a young woman raised in a devout Sikh household, as we've said, even the suggestion that she had been alone with a man, let alone that he had touched her in any way, would have carried a profound sense of shame.

In many traditional Sikh families, physical intimacy outside of marriage is strictly prohibited. I don't think that that's unique to the Sikh community, but it's something when you are religious, there is some level of prohibition around that sort of thing. Premarital sex and even casual affection could be seen as dishonorable, not just for the individual, but for the family as a whole.

And in this context, Mahil may have felt too frightened or humiliated to speak openly about the incident, which kind of meant that she only kept it to a close circle of friends. And this tight circle of friends included Harinder Shoka, who turns out was Gagandeep's best friend. Right.

But who was also absolutely head over heels for Mahil. Right, okay. So now this is not to downplay the seriousness of the incident at all, but we do need to acknowledge its ambiguity.

It's possible that what happened was a deeply uncomfortable and inappropriate moment. But what is clear that this is, it is the reason why everything that goes on to happen happens. Shoka, who, as I say, is the young man who had vouched for Gagandeep, had remained on the edges of their friendship.

He'd kind of stayed out of it to a lot of extent, kind of trying to be the one that I'm friends with both of you sort of thing. And he was often dismissed as being quite a shy, quiet man. And then when Mahil tells him about what happens, something shifted in his brain, basically.

And to him, her pain presented an opportunity for him to be able to step in and protect her and show her that he was a good man and maybe prove his worth to her and to show just how far he'd go for her. So we're now going to do a quick side quest into who Harinder was. Harinder Shoka, who was also known as Ravi to his friends, and a lot of the documentaries call him Ravi, he was 20 at the time of the murder.

And on paper, he seemed quite an unremarkable person. He was an apprentice electrician living in Greenwich, but he had a very calm exterior. And it's thought that there was quite a lot of volatility in him that not many people had really seen.

And he'd been really close with Gagandeep for about five years. So they'd met, they had met first, and they'd met at their local Gurdwara. And Gagandeep even gave Shoka a job at his television channel.

And his sister, Amandip, recalled, she said Gagandeep looked at him like his younger brother. Shoka was often seen at the Singh family home. And he was described by those around him as diabetic, quite weak, very shy, very polite.

And apparently he would be at their house almost every day. Now the diabetes thing comes into play later. So okay, fine.

Okay, just diabetic. That's a thing to lead with. Yeah, but no, it will come into play in a minute.

And then Shoka met Manthil Mahil through a Sikh martial arts group, as we spoke about before. And this group is practicing a martial art called Ghatka. And he found himself orbiting in the same social spaces as both Gagandeep and Manthil.

And then there became like that old saying, two's company, three's a crowd. There became a lot of tension, jealousy, and an emerging rivalry between Gagandeep and Shoka. And yeah, as we've said before, Gagandeep was seen as like the golden boy.

He was very charismatic, very confident. Shoka was like the complete opposite. Diabetic.

Exactly. Diabetic, weak. But no, he then began referring to himself and Manthil started referring to him as her gangster friend.

Okay. I don't know what it was that made him be gangster, but apparently that was where he wanted to go with life. Anyway, so their friendship started to fracture.

And while Gagandeep tried to win Manthil's affection and did some stupid things, Shoka was kind of just watching from the sidelines. When Manthil told him what had happened between her and Gagandeep, he began lashing out online. He took to Facebook publicly attacking Gagandeep's reputation.

So he said things like, you disrespected our religion. You liar. You're a fake Sikh.

All of this stuff, which obviously for a man like Gagandeep who has got this kind of standing is quite a lot. And police say that this wasn't just idle venting, but actually the start of a vendetta. So by early 2011, Manthil was persuaded that Gagandeep needed to be taught a lesson for his behaviour.

Shoka offered to help Manthil get revenge and reportedly said he would, quote, do 21 years for her. That's very, like, definitive. I know.

Not a minute more. Very specific. 21, not a year more or less.

Anyway, so to carry out their plan, Shoka recruited a man named Darren Peters, who feels very random and out of the whole circle. But he was a 19-year-old bicycle mechanic from Shooters Hill. And he was recruited to be, and I quote, the muscle.

Apparently, he was described as a self-confessed car thief who had a background in criminal activities. He was known to have had a history of violence and was considered someone who could be relied on for physical intimidation. Apparently, Shoka and Peter were school friends.

And Peters was said to have been of, quote, lower intelligence, who was very much pulled into the plot by Shoka. Right, OK. According to later court testimony, the initial plan was to teach Gagandeep a lesson.

And that phrase was repeated so often in court, they kept talking about it. And it also is how Mahil later describes her intentions for what was meant to happen. Right, OK.

So the plan was apparently, allegedly, not to kill Gagandeep, but to physically assault and humiliate him as payback for the incident in August of the previous year. OK. It was stated that the group agreed that Mahil would lure Gagandeep to her flat under false pretense of a reconciliation.

And that once he had arrived, Shoka and Peters would be there to intimidate him and potentially film it as a warning or something like that. Apparently, Mahil would stay out of sight so she wouldn't be directly involved. And then Gagandeep would be scared off by Shoka and Peters, who would then take him to a religious guru who would give him a lecture on his unacceptable behavior and attitude to women and possibly, I quote, a slap or two.

OK. I don't know many religious gurus. I should just end that there.

Yeah, I don't know many religious gurus. We will get to it in a bit. But the excuses that they come up with for like, oh, why? Well, yeah, this was just, it was just going to be.

I just need to exercise this out a bit, though, because I know legally he didn't attempt to rape her, but under different just what he did was not OK. And I can kind of see he's like the other guy's in love with her and he's like, that shouldn't have happened to you. I'll teach him a lesson.

Yeah, it doesn't sound like this case could end here. Yeah. And we could have been talking about the attempted rape of a woman in like, I know it wasn't I was in Rochester, but like, you know.

Yeah. Or Brighton, Brighton, Brighton, sorry. And we'd almost kind of allow it or like.

Oh, I don't know what I'm trying to say here. Like, there's it's so difficult when I was writing this, I was trying to be so careful because you're right. What he did was not legally like murder doesn't solve anything.

Right. It's not like, oh, he was asking for it or he deserved it anyway. And that's not what I'm saying.

And that's why I kind of said if it ended here. Yeah. And they had like roughed him up a bit and then take him to a religious guru and he had a couple of slaps and then been told about himself.

Actually, it might have been the making of him in terms of like that behavior was obviously inappropriate and wrong. Yeah. Regardless of the legality around it.

What you did wasn't right. Don't do it again. Yeah.

Here is where, OK, violence is never the answer either. Yeah. But like.

If there's a logic, there is something that makes sense. Yes. About that or isn't as.

The isn't as like, oh, my God, that's completely shocking and diabolical. It hasn't it hasn't come out of nowhere. There is a rationale, however, warped for what happens.

There is a motive. I think that it's it's so difficult because. As I say, I believe the victim.

I believe that what he did was wrong. What I think because I know what's coming. Yeah.

But maybe I should just I don't I don't think that it I don't think what he actually did. Warranted what happened. Right.

In and was it ever going to be just teaching him a lesson? No. Right. Sorry.

I will be quiet now. So what actually happened? If only I'd shut up for a minute. On February 25th, 2011, Mahil arranged a late night meeting with Gagandeep at her rented student house in Brighton, ostensibly to reconcile through a series of friendly text messages.

She suggested they could patch things up after months of silence. Following the incident that happened six months previous. One of the messages from Gagandeep sent in reply to Mahil's invitation chillingly read, can we talk civil or do you just want me dead? What Gagandeep wasn't aware of was that his friend Shoka and his friend Peters were also going to be in attendance.

The two men travelled from South London to Brighton that evening by train, but they weren't there to talk. They came equipped with a metal tripod, gloves and dust sheets. Fucking hell.

CCTV footage showed Mahil meeting them at Brighton station and then leading them back to her home. A clear indication that this wasn't spontaneous and had been planned. And all of the CCTV footage of the three, you can see Shoka and Mahil laughing, joking, smiling together.

Once they were inside the house, the preparation was methodical. Down in the basement bedroom, which belonged to Mahil, the men laid out dust sheets, presumably to limit any mess. They put on gloves ready to avoid trace evidence and Mahil, aware of the plan, was present during all of this.

Her housemate would later tell police that she had been warned by Mahil, quote, don't go down there, something is going to happen. And then the doorbell rang. Gagandeep arrived at the flat at around 10pm that evening with flowers and a teddy bear that he had purchased from a petrol station on his way to Brighton earlier that evening.

He had travelled to the seaside town in his sister's Mercedes as his own car was having issues at the time. No sooner had Mahil welcomed him into her home was he ambushed by the other two men. As soon as he entered Mahil's room, he was attacked.

Shoka struck first, hitting Gagandeep with the tripod. The initial blow caused him to fall to the floor, where Peters then joined in. Together, the two men beat him mercilessly for around 20 minutes.

Fucking hell, that's a long time. Focusing brutal blows on his head and face. The injuries were catastrophic, swelling to the brain, facial fractures, severe trauma.

And at some point it's reported that the housemate heard him screaming for Mahil and obviously she didn't do anything. She never answered. And in one report, now this was unverified, but it was repeated in a couple of places, although the source documents, but apparently they claim that while Gagandeep was being beaten, Mahil was in the kitchen just quite happily eating a key lime pie.

Whether or not that detail is true, there is a terrifying detachment for what is going on. What's known for certain is that she did nothing to intervene for 20 minutes. That's such a long time.

That's not a quick, no, give him a punch and tell him what for. Like that's a sustained, that's a really long time. When the attack was over, Gagandeep was unconscious but still alive.

The men wrapped him in a duvet, tied him up and carried him out of the house. A neighbour would later report seeing two men struggling with a bulky object and loading it into the boot of the black Mercedes. They didn't realise that they were witnessing the disposal of a dying man.

Shoker and Peters then set off on a 60 mile journey back to London. It was around midnight, but during that drive, they stopped at a petrol station where CCTV caught Peters hood up buying a jerry can of fuel. The journey took approximately 90 minutes and throughout this time, Gagandeep remained in the boot, unconscious but alive.

Upon reaching Angerstein Lane, a secluded area on Blackheath, Shoker and Peters poured the petrol over the vehicle and set it on fire with Gagandeep still inside. The fire was intense and police and fire services were on the scene shortly after 2am on Saturday February 26th 2011. Firefighters extinguished the blaze and discovered Gagandeep's charred remains in the boot of the car.

His body was charred beyond recognition, wrapped in a burned duvet. The fire had been so intense that Gagandeep's own mother didn't believe it was him at first. The family only received confirmation through DNA identification.

His sister would later describe seeing his body. This is fucking rough. Okay, I'm putting it out there.

Quote, there was no skin. He was charcoal. His eyes had sunken.

He didn't look human. It was scary, but he was my brother, so I had to go and see him. The postmortem confirmed that Gagandeep had sustained serious head injuries, but the actual cause of death was even more harrowing.

The pathologist found soot in his lungs and throat, proving that he had still been alive when the flames had engulfed him. He had burned to death. This was just 15 months after Gagandeep's father had been murdered.

And as Gagandeep's mother later said, some days I'm not alive. Two or three times a day, I think I want to die. We can never be a normal family again.

The people who did this weren't strangers. They weren't enemies from the outside. They were friends, people that he trusted.

His sister later said, it's your own that harms you. So this case was then assigned to the Metropolitan Police's Homicide and Serious Crime Command, and it was under the codename Operation Marwood, led by Detective Chief Inspector Damien Allain, and then supported by Detective Inspector Tim Duffield. Also to say that this is also a case that you can read about in Steve Kito's book, because that's where I got it from.

So their first objective was very clear. They needed to identify the victim. Now, the car was registered to Amandeep Singh, but she hadn't been driving it, as we know.

Gagandeep had borrowed it the previous evening. But still, because the fire had been so intense, the remains were that unrecognizable, that like, actually, there was a period of time where the family thought that Gagandeep could have been involved in hurting that person, rather than assuming that he was the one that was in the boot. Right, okay.

So his sister, Amandeep, was the first to raise the alarm. She had tried calling Gagandeep when he didn't return home that night. And when the police came to the house early that morning and said that they'd found a body in a car under her name, she knew that something was wrong.

She phoned Harinder Shoker, and apparently, this is chilling, he giggled and said he didn't know where Gagandeep was. And she said that that was the first sort of inkling she had that he might have been involved. And then, yeah, so in the early stages of the investigation, police actively explored the possibility that Gagandeep's death may have been linked to the brutal killing of his father, because it was only 15 months earlier.

However, according to senior investigating officers, no direct evidence was ever found to link Gagandeep's death with his father. Investigators ruled out any connection, concluding that his killing was rooted in a separate personal conflict involving his relationships in the UK. But good on them for going after the alternative.

Forensic officers and analysts then turned to CCTV and automatic number plate recognition to retrace the car's journey. So cameras picked up Gagandeep's sister's Mercedes traveling down to Brighton and then returning north just after midnight on the same day. But it was the grainy CCTV footage from a unit near Angerstein Lane, where the car was eventually dumped and set alight, that provided a chilling glimpse of the crime's final act.

The footage showed two figures running from the scene into the darkness. While the quality was really poor, police officers believed that one of the men was wearing a turban. And this detail struck investigators immediately and had at one point made the family hope that that man was actually Gagandeep.

They asked the Singh family if Gagandeep was involved in anything risky, whether he had done drugs, whether he had any gang affiliations, anything that could explain why he'd been killed. But they said no, he was really focused. He was devoted to his work in the Sikh community and they had no idea who would have done this to him.

And then came the big break. So the ANPR data, phone records and text logs confirmed that Gagandeep had travelled to Brighton that night and he told his friends that he was going to visit someone, but didn't say who. When questioned, Mundil Mahil initially denied seeing him.

But as evidence mounted, including CCTV footage of her meeting Shoka and Peters at Brighton station and phone data showing ongoing contact with Gagandeep, her story changed. She claimed that Gagandeep had visited her, but had then left safely. Whoever believes that? But anyway, she then said that this is the first time that she speaks to the police about this assault.

And she said that she'd invited him there in order to confront him about what had happened, but she'd never wanted to kill him. And it was clear to investigators that she had lured him to her flat, as we already know, and that then those two Shoka and Peters were waiting for him. So during the return journey to London, the CCTV from the petrol station that captured Darren Peters was also found by police.

And police then later found accelerant residues in the boot of the burned out Mercedes that matched what was purchased at the garage. And so from there, they were able to connect the dots. So they had call logs that showed an 80-minute phone call between Mahil and Shoka after the fire, during which Shoka allegedly said, I've done the job now.

A neighbour in Brighton reported hearing a commotion in Mahil's house and seeing two men carrying what appeared to be a heavy object out to the car. And Mahil's own housemate later confirmed that she'd been told not to go downstairs. So by now, detectives were sure that they had their suspects.

Mundil Mahil, Harinder Shoka and Darren Peters. By the time the forensic reports were in and the CCTV footage reviewed, police were certain that Gagandeep had been lured to his death. The first person that they turned their attention to was Mundil.

And when officers tried to contact her initially, she couldn't be found. Like they tried to get in touch with her, she just wasn't there. And then as kind of pressure started mounting, she phoned the police and reportedly said, quote, I'm due to go to meditation in East London.

Do you need me to come to the police station? Okay. And they said, yes. Yeah.

So she then, she comes in voluntarily. She tells the officers about everything that we've already spoken about. But what she didn't tell the police was that Mahil had been in, she'd been in near constant communication with Shoka in the days and hours leading up to the attack, even after the car had been torched.

So she said that, yes, she'd spoken to Gagandeep. Yes, she'd invited him down to Brighton. They'd reconciled.

Great. But she'd not mentioned anything about Shoka. Yeah.

Harinda Ravi Shoka was arrested less than 24 hours after the burned car was discovered. He said nothing in interview, offering no explanation or defence. But the evidence against him was mounting fast.

So he'd been seen on the CCTV at Brighton. His phone records showed communication throughout the evening with Mahil and then witness testimony and forensic evidence placed him at the scene of the beating in her bedroom. Despite his silence, there was a, police basically were like, this is fully premeditated as it was.

And then there was the fact that he also had a fractured hand that had been sustained during the attack. And this further tied him to the violence that had been inflicted on Gagandeep. And then Darren Peters would later tell police that he felt like, and I quote, a hit man in a film.

Okay. Referencing the film, The Transporter. And during the attack, he delivered part of the beating.

He said he helped move Gagandeep to the boot and he later poured the petrol over the car before setting it alight. Unlike Shoka, Peters did eventually talk to police. And he tried to shift the blame.

He said he didn't realise how serious things would get, claimed that Shoka was the ringleader. And then eventually Shoka returned the favour, saying that Peters was the reason they had escalated. So Gagandeep's funeral was a really emotional occasion and it drew hundreds of mourners from across the UK and beyond.

It was held at the Gurdwara in Woolwich, where the Singh family were active members. And the ceremony was marked by traditional Sikh rites, prayers and solemn remembrance. His coffin was adorned with photographs of him so that loved ones could remember him as he was, vibrant, smiling and full of life.

The community turned out in force, a testament to the impact Gagandeep had made in just 21 years. Friends, family and strangers all came to pay their respects to a young man whose kindness, ambition and commitment to helping others had left a lasting impression on the community. So the trial of Mundil Mahil, Harinder Shoka and Darren Peters began at the Old Bailey in 2012 and lasted nearly four months.

The courtroom was filled with tension throughout, not just because of the brutal nature of the crime, but because all three defendants were just teenagers at the time of Gagandeep's death. All three pleaded not guilty to the charges of murder levelled against them. Aftab Jafferji QC led the prosecution, arguing that the killing had been premeditated, coordinated and cruel.

He described how Gagandeep was lured into a trap by someone he trusted and ultimately ambushed in a calculated act of violence. Michael Birnbaum QC represented Mundil Mahil and he painted her as a traumatised young woman whose intention had never been for Gagandeep to die and claimed that Shoka had acted far beyond anything that Mahil had anticipated. Her defence distanced her from the final act of the murder and they also spent a lot of time highlighting the fact that she wasn't on the 60 mile drive.

She wasn't there when they set the fire. All of that was kind of her defence. Shoka refused to make eye contact with anyone in the court, even Gagandeep's mother and sister when they gave evidence and impact statements.

It was said that he tried to get the jury and wider court to see him as a dedicated, meek and mild man who regularly asked for sugary drinks and chocolate during the trial to help with his blood sugars. So he was trying to portray that he was... I'm very weak. I'm really weak.

I'm diabetic. Exactly. He gave evidence in his own defence though, stating that, quote, in general, the whole situation just felt surreal.

This was something you'd see in a movie. You wouldn't be experiencing it. Shoka said it was Peters who repeatedly punched Gagandeep and struck him over the head with a camera tripod and said he thought that Gagandeep had been killed in that attack.

Quote, there was an open boot in front of me and there was this guy that I think is dead and I didn't know how to respond or take anything in. If I had known he was alive at that time, I wouldn't have allowed anything to happen to that car because that's a disgusting way for someone to get killed, he told the court. Previously, the defendant, who as an insulin dependent diabetic, had said that his blood sugar was getting very low at the time of the attack as he had not eaten anything since lunchtime.

There's a whole key lime pie upstairs, mate. Yeah, apparently. And he was apparently very, very confused about what was happening because his blood sugars were so low.

However, in one moment, as he was being led from the witness stand back to the dock, Shoka snapped at a junior barrister, muttering, what's your problem? Which apparently kind of like, showed lots of people who were like, there's a lot of unguarded hostility there. And then his barrister claimed that, because of his diabetes, he was mentally foggy during parts of the attack and journey to London. But this was dismissed by the court as an inadequate defence.

Peter's defence lawyer argued that he was easily influenced and had lower cognitive ability. But the judge found that Peter's had multiple opportunities to walk away and instead chose to escalate the violence. Mahill, by contrast, reportedly maintained a cold and calculated demeanour throughout the trial, sometimes staring directly at Gagandeep's grieving family, a gesture that they described as deeply unsettling.

On the 24th of January, 2012, the jury delivered their verdicts after more than 40 hours of deliberation. Harinder Shoka was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 22 years in prison. The judge described him as the principal architect of the plan and the main driver behind the violence.

Darren Peters was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 12 years, with the court accepting that he did not plan the murder but had actively participated in the fatal assault and had helped to set the car alight. And Mundil Mahill was found not guilty of murder, but guilty of grievous bodily harm with intent. She was sentenced to six years.

The jury concluded that while she could not have foreseen the full extent of what would happen, she had knowingly lured Gagandeep into a violent ambush. She knew something was going to happen. Yeah.

The judge said she was at the heart of a criminal conspiracy that ended in a terrifying and tragic death. The Singh family was stunned by the verdict and sentence, describing it as astonishingly lenient. They believe that Mahill had played a critical role in what happened and that she deserved a much stronger punishment.

As the verdicts were read aloud, there were audible cries and sobs from both the public gallery and the dock. Gagandeep's family expressed profound frustration, particularly with Mahill's sentence. His sister later said, the irony is that had it not been for Mahill, my brother would still be alive today.

The prosecution summarised the case chillingly. These teenagers decided to play God. In 2013, both Shoka and Peters appealed their sentences, but they were unsuccessful.

As of the latest available reports, Shoka remains in prison serving his life sentence. Peters was released on licence after serving half of his sentence and has reportedly reintegrated into civilian life with no further issues. The Singh family has publicly expressed anger and devastation over the fact that Peters is now free, while their son was denied the chance to live his life.

They have repeatedly said that none of the three received sentences proportionate to the pain that they've caused. But what about Mahill? So Mahill served half her sentence and was released on licence in 2014. Reports indicated that she attempted to rebuild her life by working with a charity supporting women leaving the criminal justice system.

She also engaged in various activities aimed at personal development and community involvement. She trained as a personal trainer, a aromatherapist, a masseuse, and became involved in photography and charity work. Mahill has also launched several websites highlighting her achievements and strengths, though none have mentioned her criminal past.

In 2016, she married Varinder Singh Bhola, a Labour councillor from Ilford who worked as a senior official in the office of Ilford South MP Mike Gapes. Their wedding was a lavish affair held at the Medway Towns Gurdwara in Rochester, Kent, with reports indicating that Mahill wore a bespoke £3,000 wedding dress and the ceremony was attended by over 500 guests who later celebrated at Cobham Hall in Higham. In January 2019, Singh Bhola, so her husband, announced that he had been selected as the mayor-elect for the London borough of Redbridge.

Now, this announcement brought renewed public attention to Mahill's past. Yeah, of course. The prospect of Mahill serving as mayoress alongside her husband sparked outrage among the public and Gagandeep's family.

His sister, Amandip, expressed deep distress, stating she's only been out of prison for four years and is now going to be a mayoress through her husband, but will be afforded as much respect as him. That's not fair. Facing mounting criticism, Singh Bhola withdrew his nomination for mayor, stating, quote, I have taken time and reflected on the events of the past weekend and the concerns of my family, friends, and colleagues.

I've decided to withdraw my name from consideration for the mayoralty of Redbridge. He added that he stood united with his beloved wife, Mahill. Gagandeep Singh was a young man with ambition, compassion, and a strong sense of duty to his community.

He was a rising star whose life was cut short in the most brutal and senseless way, betrayed by people he trusted, lured under false pretenses, and subjected to a horrific ordeal. His death sent shockwaves through the Sikh and wider South London communities. While justice was ultimately served in the courtroom, the scars left behind on his family, his friends, and the wider community remain.

This was a case that revealed how obsession, manipulation, and jealousy can warp even the closest relationships and how lives can be destroyed in a single night. It was branded a honey trap by the press, but behind the headlines was a grieving mother, a devastated sister, and a boy who simply didn't deserve to die. The end.

So, yes. Well done, mate. Thank you very much.

That's the story of Gagandeep Singh. It's so difficult because, as you say, there are nuances to this. There are.

And it's not about... Obviously, it is about him. That was going to be a stupid thing to say. But at no point am I saying what he did... What happened to him, sorry.

Was deserved. Was deserved or in any way proportionate or appropriate or anything like that. Obviously, fucking horrific.

And his poor family, man. That's just... It's just so much. 15 months.

But where my struggle is, is her. We've been younger and we've had male friends in our lives who would be like, oh my God, did that man just punch... Did that man punch you? No, that's not... I'll punch that man. Did that man touch... That would get defensive of us or that would... Stand up for us or whatever.

And I couldn't... How much control over that would we have had? But then again, we wouldn't have lured him into somewhere and all of that. And it's also like, I think that there's... Where it changes for me and where my sympathy for her evaporates is the fact that this went on for 20 minutes. Yeah, that's... He's screaming her name.

Yeah, that's horrific. And she didn't stop it. Yeah.

Like, she could have gone down and gone enough now and put an end to it and been like, what you did to me was horrific and you shouldn't have done it. And it's wrong. Let this be a lesson to you, goodbye.

I never want to see you again. Exactly. She could have stopped it.

She didn't. And it still would have been, by all accounts, from how it was evidenced, it still would have been disproportionate. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But you can kind of go, right, like... Yeah, they roughed him up. He's got a bruised ego. We're all now getting on with our lives.

And the other thing is, again, and I'm not giving... I'm not trying to find excuses for Gagandeep because again, I think that it was, you know, there are boundaries and there's things, you know, and if a woman said to you, I'm uncomfortable, you don't take it further, regardless of whether it's a hug or whatever it is. Like, but there's another thing of like, it's so easy to forget how young these people are. Yeah, that's what I was thinking as well.

Like, he was 21 when he died. Yeah. He's a baby.

Really? So young. And people make mistakes and they do stupid things when they're young and that's not to give them leniency on it. No.

But we've all done, or found ourselves in a position where we've actually, in hindsight, or when we're older, or when we've gone... Never, like, how I would handle that now, yeah. So I think that there's also that, the fact that, you know, and also it's a culture where like, you know, as I said, there weren't boyfriends and girlfriends. There isn't that kind of relationship.

And I think when you're in your teens, everything's about relationships. Everything is, regardless of whether you're male or female. Yeah.

You are looking for someone, whether that's your future husband or whatever it is. There's that connection that, know me, know me. Exactly.

And I think that there's something, that that drive can result in people doing stupid things. And he was stupid, but he didn't deserve. No, God no.

What he got. God no. And, yeah.

And I think the fact that he also had, by all accounts, like, he was owning what he'd done. The fact that he's messaged a mentor to say like, what do I do? I feel awful. What do I do? You could tell that he wasn't taking this lightly.

It wasn't a flippant, oh, yeah, well, whatever. She's just being like, he was ashamed of himself. And I just think that like, what bothers me about it is the fact that it's six months later.

She's cut off all ties with him and then she's messaged him to go come down. Well, that's the other one. And that's that.

Yes, that's Shoka. Yeah. But it's just, yeah, that's where I kind of lose my sympathy.

No, I don't have sympathy per se, but it was just where my brain kind of got stuck on it. It's just horrible. Yeah, it is horrible.

And I do really feel for his sister and his mum. And if you do watch the same documentary I watched on Channel 5, there is a lot of them talking about him and what they miss about him and that they go to the spot every year and they leave flowers and stuff. And it's just devastating that these women who loved so deeply, their father, husband, son, brother, have lost both of them.

So quickly as well. It's just, yeah, it's horrible. But yes.

Wow. Well done, mate. Thanks.

Should we do the nice things now? Yeah, why not? Why indeed? We have the sometimes okay Lou, who set up the wonderful Facebook group, which is Trevor's Unite. There is the Instagram, which is SinisterSouthPod, helps if I could say the name of our own podcast. It's SinisterSouthPod.

TikTok's the same. There is the email address, which is SinisterSouthPodcast at gmail.com. Yep. And then the website.

Oh, and there's Rachel's website. SinisterSouthPod.co.uk. So yeah, and you can come and leave us a little note. There's the Patreon.

There is the Patreon. I keep forgetting about the bloody Patreon. Sinister South.

Yeah. Come find us if you fancy hearing more. We've got like all the different tiers, but there's the main one really, is where you get an extra sort of half hour long episode a month.

And that is usually a case. Well, it's always a case that we've wanted to do on the main feed, but there just hasn't been enough info. So we've packaged it up into a nice shorter episode, smaller little package, because the cases are still really important and we think we should talk about them.

So you can go over there. And then if you are a £10 and up, I was just about to say $10. I've listened to far too many.

Oh, wow. Far too many American podcasts. $10 and up Patreon.

If you're a £10 and up for Patreon, you also get a second episode, which we're still figuring out what we're doing with. But it's going to be a bit more. I think it's going to be a bit more fun.

Yeah, it's going to be a bit more lighthearted. Yeah. A bit more of Hannah and I. Yeah.

Whatever that looks like. We've done a Q&A that's going to come out. We'll probably do some silly.

Some silly things. Silly things. But if you've got any ideas for what you want to hear us do, then like please do let us know.

Maybe you want to hear a case that isn't South London and it's our take on a big case or something. That was the other idea. We will always keep the main feed.

It'll be a, what is it? Veritable smorgasbord. Oh, get you. Of things.

I love the language at 11 o'clock at night. I am. Delirious.

Delirious. But yeah, no, we will always keep the main feed South London. But if there are any cases that you would like to have a Rachel and Hannah treatment putting on, then let us know.

And we might do that for the Patreon. But yeah, go over there and do that. Cool.

That's it, isn't it? Yeah. I think we covered everything. I agree.

I'm going to go to bed now. Me too. Awesome.

Love you, Travers. Love you, Travers. See you next week.

Sweet dreams. Bye!