Trial opens for man accused of killing former Boston woman in West Midlands

A woman, originally from Boston, found dead in a back street in the West Midlands had been strangled by her killer, the jury in the murder trial of a West Bromwich delivery driver was told.

The semi-naked body of Shara Millar, 41, was found on the pavement, in Woodburn Road, in Smethwick, shortly after 6.10am on August 11 last year resulting in a police appeal for help to find out what happened to her. Miss Millar was a sex worker, the court was told.

Accused man Tanveer Singh, aged 31, of Leopard Lane, West Bromwich, is standing trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court charged with her murder.

Opening the case on Wednesday barrister Rachel Brand KC said after a night out with friend Singh picked up the prostitute in Babington Road on the Handsworth-Smethwick boundary before driving to the industrial estate in Woodburn Road.

Miss Brand said: “The defendant got out of the van and walked round to the passenger side of the vehicle. He could be seen clearly because of CCTV cameras and on the audio track could be heard the sound of the sliding door of the van.

“It was obvious that the two of them got in the large rear compartment of the Mercedes Sprinter van.

“Ladies and gentlemen within less than two minutes of them getting into the back of the van on the audio track of the footage, loud shouting can be heard. You will be able to listen to it and decide what you can hear. We suggest that you can hear a woman’s voice saying “ow” followed by banging noises coming from the van.

“You will have to decided if it was at that point the defendant murdered Shara Millar.”

“We say there was long period of silence then shortly after that shouting and banging noises. The short bursts of banging noises happened at 1.03am for two minutes. When the banging sound seemed to subside, it appeared to have come from the van.

“There were sounds like a person was moving around in the van. It was mostly quiet for 20 minutes, a long time. The defendant was apparently still inside for all that time. It wasn’t until 1.27am that he emerged. The sliding van door can be heard.”

“He was seen to open the driver’s door and reach into the compartment, then come back out and round to the passenger side. Whilst the view of one of the CCTV cameras is understood to be at an angle, nonetheless it is possible to see the passenger side of the van and to see that something is being put onto the pavement, and it is also possible to hear the sound of liquid splashing.

“By 1.32am the defendant had come back to the driver’s side, started the van and was driving away. He had killed Shara Miller by strangling her then having killed her, he puled her body out of the van and left her on that pavement like rubbish strewn in the street. She was virtually naked.”

Miss Bland also told the jury that the accused poured an engine additive over the victim, and it was unknown whether this was in a bid to “eliminate any scientific” evidence as a final act of humiliation.

The body was discovered shortly after 6am by a worker arriving at the nearby industrial estate.

A post mortem found that Miss Millar, originally from Boston, Lincolnshire, had been strangled and her injuries included a number of neck fractures, and bruises “consistent with blunt force trauma or impact with a hard surface”.

Singh, denies murder. The trial continues.