8:19am Wednesday 1st August 2007
A catering student from Southall who stabbed a friend to death for refusing to shake his hand was jailed for life on Friday, July 27.
Harvir Singh, 21, plunged the six-inch blade into the heart of Gurinder Singh Rao, 26, in a vodka-fuelled frenzy, after a party at their home in The Glen, Southall, on September 23 last year.
Just moments before, he had knifed flatmate Amrik Singh Grewal, 24, in the back after finding him lying face down on a bed, believing him to be Mr Singh Rao.
Judge David Paget QC sentenced Singh to life imprisonment and recommended he be deported home to India at the end of his sentence.
The judge said: "You clearly were totally out of control that night and I am in no position to say you pose no danger in future.
"Your continued presence in this country can only be detrimental. In the three months you were here worked illegally and committed two very serious crimes."
On the night of the stabbing the group downed two litres of Vodka and were dancing and shouting in the back garden.
But when Mr Singh Rao refused to shake hands with Singh he turned nasty and threatened to contact the Home Office about the illegal status of his flatmates.
After stabbing Mr Grewal Singh then turned the blade on Gurinder Rao, stabbing him through the heart and leaving a 6cm deep wound before the victim collapsed on the front steps of the house.
Singh passed out at the scene in a drunken stupor and only woke when officers slapped handcuffs on him.
Surgeons at Ealing Hospital were unable to save Mr Rao but Mr Grewal survived.
Mr Singh had also entered the country last July held a UK student visa which allowed him to remain in the UK until 2007.
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