Oldbury man jailed for life after murdering wife filing for divorce
Harminder Mattu strangled and stabbed his wife weeks after she started divorce proceedings
Last updated 7 hours ago
A man who murdered his wife after she initiated divorce proceedings has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 18 years.
51-year-old Harminder Mattu, of Swan Crescent, Oldbury fatally attacked 46-year-old Paramjit Kaur at their house on Swan Crescent, Oldbury.
Paramjit was in the process of leaving Mattu having filed for divorce around two months before the attack.
Mattu strangled and stabbed her at around 11pm on 30th March 2025.
He waited until 8am the next day to report that he'd killed her.
He claimed that Paramjit was drunk and was the one armed with the knife, and that he managed to get it off her before stabbing her.
A post-mortem examination shows that she died as a result of pressure on her neck and that the stab injuries most likely occurred after she was unconscious.
Judge John Butterfield KC ruled that the 51-year-old had intended to kill Paramjit.
Passing sentence on Mattu, Judge Butterfield said previous incidents of violence and coercion were aggravating factors in the case.
“Many seconds of strangulation are not sensibly consistent with anything less than an intention to kill,” the judge said.
In a victim impact statement read to the court prior to sentencing, Paramjit’s brother said the 46-year-old was very hard-working, kind and charitable and was someone who was “always there when we as a family needed her”.