Here we take into the life and crimes of Harpreet Aulakh and those who participated in the brutal attack and murder of the mother-of-two.
Who is Geeta Aulakh’s husband Harpreet?
In 2009, 28-year-old radio station receptionist Geeta Aulakh was brutally attacked and killed in London.
Geeta, Harpreet Aulakh’s wife of 10 years and the mother of his two sons, was hacked to death with a machete in Greenford as she went to pick up her children after leaving work.
She was found with catastrophic head injuries and her right hand severed.
The attack, which lasted just minutes, left her with severe wounds to the right side of her face and the back of her skull.
It is difficult to think of a more vicious and brutal way of killing anybody.
Judge David Paget
After being rushed to hospital, Geeta tragically died just hours later.
Following a murder investigation, a court heard how Geeta’s husband Harpreet had ordered the killing after his wife filed for divorce.
A Channel 5 series, which documents the case, also explains how Aulakh was wrongly convinced that his wife was having an affair.
Who is Sher Singh and how was he involved in Geeta’s murder?
On the evening of the brutal attack, two men approached Geeta as she made her way to collect her children.
One of them was Sher Singh, who had entered the UK four months before on a student visa obtained by Harpreet Aulakh, and who police believe carried out the murder, simply because he was asked to.
Singh was recruited to ambush Geeta while her husband drank in a pub under the watch of the CCTV cameras.
Detective Inspector John Finch, of the Metropolitan Police, who led the investigation, said: ”Sher Singh was young and impressionable, just a teenager.
“This man had got him into the country and helped him find a job and a place to live. He looked up to him. He probably felt he owed him.”
Who is Jaswant Singh Dhillon and how was he involved in Geeta’s murder?
Harpreet Aulakh also recruited a second man named Jaswant Singh Dhillon, who is said to have acted as a look-out.
Following the attack, the killer’s plan fell apart when Dhillon approached police, initially claiming to be an innocent witness.
He led them to the canal in Slough, Berkshire, where the the weapon had been dumped.
A key breakthrough in the case then came when police officers discovered that the weapon was stocked in a shop just a couple of miles from Harpreet’s home which was located in Hounslow, west London.
After obtaining CCTV footage from the shop, police were able to find three people buying a machete – one of which was Harpreet Aulakh.
In 2010, Harpreet Aulakh was jailed for life at the Old Bailey and was ordered to serve at least 28 years.
Sher Singh and Jaswant Dhillon were also jailed for life and handed minimum sentences of 22 years.
A fourth man, Harpreet Singh, was jailed for life with a minimum of 22 years in April 2011.
After the trial, Judge David Paget said: ”It is difficult to think of a more vicious and brutal way of killing anybody.”