Grandmother who arranged ‘honour killing’ of daughter-in-law to be freed from prison after 15 years
A grandmother who arranged the murder of her daughter-in-law in 1998 is to be freed from prison after having a parole application accepted.
Bachan Athwal, then 70, was jailed alongside her son Sukhdave in 2007 for the so-called honour killing of 27-year-old Surjit Athwal, who went missing during a trip to India in 1998.
The Old Bailey heard how Bachan discovered Surjit had been having an affair and wanted a divorce but told family members this would only happen “over my dead body”.
The court was told Bachan was the matriarchal head of the west London family and exercised extraordinary influence over the other members.
During a trip to a family wedding in the Punjab in India in 1998, she arranged for the Heathrow customs officer to be killed.
She later boasted to her family that she had got rid of Surjit by getting a relative to strangle her and throw her body in a river in Ravi. Surjit’s body has never been found.
Bachan and Sukhdave, both previously of Hayes, then pretended Surjit had run away.
They forged letters supposedly from the Metropolitan Police to their Indian counterparts to block any local investigation.
The mother and son then faked a document, transferring ownership of the home Surjit part-owned into their names.
Sukhdave took out a £100,000 insurance policy on his wife the day she left for India – but it did not pay out.
He later divorced Surjit in her absence, claiming she deserted him, and then married someone else.
Sentencing them both to life imprisonment in September 2007, Judge Giles Forrester told the mother and son: “The pair of you decided that the so-called honour of your family members was worth more than the life of this young woman.
“You, Bachan, were head of that family. I have no doubt you exercised a controlling influence over other family members.”
More follows
