Man found guilty of murdering former Boston woman
Shara Millar was strangled by Tanveer Singh minutes after agreeing to get into the works’ van he was driving.
A delivery driver from West Bromwich has been found guilty of the murder of a former Boston woman in a unanimous verdict.
Tanveer Singh, 32, of Leopards Lane, choked Shara Millar - a sex worker - before dumping her body on a pavement in Woodburn Road on the Handsworth-Smethwick boundary in the early hours of August 11, last year.
He claimed that she had agreed to let him apply pressure to her neck and had tripped over in the van resulting in her sustaining injuries to her head and face, along with neck fractures.
But the jury did not believe him and found him guilty of murdering the 41-year-old in the van after deliberating for just over four hours.
Judge Michael Chambers KC told Wolverhampton Crown Court that it had been a ‘short but troublesome trial’ and he had no thoughts so far about what the length of the jail sentence should be.
“This is a particularly tragic case of a needless loss of life of a vulnerable person who had difficulties,” he said.
He told the jurors: “It has not been the longest case that we’ve had to deal with in Wolverhampton, however, every case is important for all involved. Whatever happens relating to the (jury) proposals, and I take no view on that, cases will continue to be tried by jurors.”
“Juries serve a very important and interesting role.”
He also told them that they were welcome to return to observe the Singh's sentencing exercise.
He told Singh: “The sentence for murder is life imprisonment and that is fixed by Parliament. I will set the minimum term that you will serve, but the Parole Board will consider when your release should be.
“You will be sentenced on May 27. In the meantime you must remain in custody."
Miss Millar, a drug addict, worked on her own and was picked up by Singh, who had been on a night out with friends in West Bromwich. He told the jury that he had used at least two lines of cocaine and drank several rum and cokes in the hours leading up to the incident which happened at about 1.05am shortly after he came across her in Babington Road off Soho Road in Handsworth.
Nearby CCTV footage captured the arrival of the Mercedes Sprinter and showed the defendant placing the victim on the ground where her semi-naked body was found five hours later by a shocked worker arriving at a business unit on the opposite side of Woodburn Road. Her wig, clothing and handbag were on the pavement next to her minus the cash Singh paid her when she got in the vehicle.
He told the jury that he accepted she died at his hands and he took back the cash as he feared it would link him to the victim.
A postmortem found that the victim, who grew up in Boston, had been strangled and had bruises and injuries consistent with coming into contact with a hard surface.
She was known to a Birmingham based team which provided practical support to street workers.