{"id":3241,"date":"2008-05-15T15:30:19","date_gmt":"2008-05-15T15:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tat.reddaisytrading.co.uk\/index.php\/2008\/05\/15\/brothers-jailed-for-killing-father-of-two\/"},"modified":"2016-01-07T11:07:15","modified_gmt":"2016-01-07T11:07:15","slug":"brothers-jailed-for-killing-father-of-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2008\/05\/15\/brothers-jailed-for-killing-father-of-two\/","title":{"rendered":"Brothers jailed for killing father-of-two"},"content":{"rendered":"
Life sentences for \u2018career criminals\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n
\"\"TWO brothers have been jailed for life for murdering a father-of-two after he tried to stop them stealing his car radio.<\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

54-year-old Balbir Matharu was mown down by brothers Albert and Tommy Willet after he tried to stop them fleeing after they broke his van window.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Both men, who pleaded not guilty, were today jailed for life at the Old Bailey.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Judge Christopher Moss ordered that Tommy should serve a minimum term of 25 years and Albert 27 years.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The Old Bailey heard how 54-year-old Balbir Matharu rushed from his office when he saw the two men breaking into his van on the morning of January 12 2006. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

As the brothers attempted to flee in their green Ford Mondeo Mr Matharu stood in front of their car and told them to wait for the police. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

But Albert Willet drove straight at the father-of two who was knocked under the car. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

As the brothers\u2019 drove off Mr Matharu clung to the bumper of the car before falling off 40 yards away. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

When Mr Matharu finally fell under their Ford Mondeo, it would have felt “like driving over a speed bump”, the Old Bailey was told. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Mr Matharu was rushed to hospital where he was treated for fractures to his ribs, collarbone and pelvis. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"He died after suffering a heart attack on the operating table. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

After the robbery the two brothers took the car to a scarp yard and had it crushed. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Shortly after a BBC Crimewatch appeal featured Mr Matharu\u2019s killing the brothers began to boast about their crime. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Whilst in prison for another crime, police bugged their cells and phone calls. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Tommy, 24, was recorded calling Matharu a “dirty old P*ki” and was overheard telling Albert: “Manslaughter, manslaughter that’s not bad is it?.” <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Both brothers denied being in the car but on the first day of the trial Albert pleaded guilty to manslaughter and admitted being the driver. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Sentencing the two men Judge Christopher Moss said: “The crime is beneath contempt. Balbir Matharu was a decent, upstanding family man whose fatal mistake was to stand up to the likes of you when you tried to steal his property.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

“You are a pair of career criminals and drug addicts. You have made no contribution to society – you have taken from it.”<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Mr Matharu, who was married with a grown-up son and daughter, worked for the family building company near the car park where he was knocked over.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Mr Matharu’s daughter Baljinder, 30, said: “My dad was a decent, honourable, hard working man who loved, looked after and did everything for his family. The people who killed my dad showed nothing for him as a human being and complete disregard to his life, our lives, and anyone who knew him. Such a level of inhumanity I cannot forgive or condone.” <\/div>\n

\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Life sentences for \u2018career criminals\u2019 TWO brothers have been jailed for life for murdering a father-of-two after he tried to stop them stealing his car radio. 54-year-old Balbir Matharu was mown down by brothers Albert and Tommy Willet after he tried to stop them fleeing after they broke his van window. Both men, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}