Man jailed for ‘merciless’ murder of his girlfriend

A man who murdered his girlfriend by hitting, kicking and trampling her before bed and leaving her to die has been sentenced to life in prison.

Raj Sidpara, 50, was found guilty of murdering Tarnjeet Riaz at his home in Leicester in the early hours of May 6 after initially telling police she had fallen over drunk.

Leicester Crown Court heard Sidpara had an “established pattern of violence” and had multiple convictions for attacks on previous partners.

On Friday he was given a life sentence with a minimum sentence of 20 years and 162 days.

The court heard Ms Riaz – also known by her maiden name Chagger – had suffered “two huge black eyes”, bleeding on the brain and 20 broken ribs, among other injuries.

Sidpara continued his attack some time after 1:50 a.m. while she was lying on his bedroom floor, face up and “defenseless.”

Judge William Harbage turned to Sidpara and said: “You then took off your bloody shoes, went to bed and then slept until morning.”

At this point, Ms. Riaz was dead.

Sidpara had called 999 around midday and was told over the phone how to perform CPR, but the court heard she already had a “cold”.

CCTV footage from a bar before the attack showed Sidpara appeared to be angry at Ms Riaz, who was “unstable” on her feet, and the court heard he was “irritated by her drunkenness”.

He later denied causing her death and claimed in a police interview that she had “a drinking problem and had fallen over”.

The court heard it was obvious that Sidpara was “prone to temper tantrums” but it was not clear what prompted his attack on Ms Riaz that night.

The judge said: “You have steadfastly refused to explain what you did or why.”

“Wild and merciless”

The judge said he was sure Sidpara’s claims that he had no memory of what happened were “false”, adding that he could remember other events that night.

“It is clear that you attacked her in a brutal and merciless manner,” he said.

He added: “They punched, kicked and kicked her in a sustained attack.”

Sidpara, who was diagnosed with alcohol dependence syndrome, later pleaded guilty to manslaughter but denied murder.

“Her conspicuous lack of remorse was remarkable at all times,” the judge said.

The court heard Sidpara had been convicted 24 times for 46 offences, including many driving offences, as well as violence, death threats and harassment of former girlfriends and people associated with them.

In 2022, he was found guilty of assaulting a former partner, headbutting her and threatening to petrol bomb her house.

In a statement read out on behalf of Ms Riaz’s brother Balraj Chagger – who was in court along with his sister Harpreet Chagger – he said if his sister had not been killed, “it would have been someone else”.

He said: “All Taz wanted was to be loved and she gave 1,000%.”

He added that his mother regretted “welcoming this monster into our family.”

“She wanted to live a life full of love, joy and meaning. She deserves every part of that future,” he said.

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