Daughter saw Widdrington dad beaten by shop raider

Jun 19 2009 by Garry Willey, The Journal

Last night Mr Singh who is known locally as James and has run the shop with his wife Daljit for 18 years – said he felt the jail term given to his attacker was ‘probably a fair outcome’.

“We have never experienced anything like that before. He just came in with a balaclava on and I got the shock of my life. My daughter was only eight at the time and when he started attacking me she started screaming her head off. I was on the floor at one point and was hit quite a lot. All I was trying to do was get him out of the shop because I was scared for my daughter. It was very traumatic for her, she was really upset and had to be checked over by the ambulance people. She didn’t want to come to the shop for quite a while after that. At that age the last thing you want to see is your parent getting attacked right in front of you.”

Mather woke the next morning with almost no memory of what he had done – only beginning to get flashbacks after speaking to friends. During the raid he had pulled the cash register from the counter before turning on Mr Singh.

“He had separated from his long term partner, he was drinking heavily and he had hit rock bottom,” said Christopher Mitford, defending. “He is mortified at his behaviour and particularly the fact all of this occurred in the presence of the victim’s daughter.

“The defendant has four children of his own. The thought of anything like this happening in front of them fills him with dread.”