Paramjit Kaur was murdered by her husband Harminder Mattu
14:16, 02 Apr 2026Updated 20:07, 02 Apr 2026
Paramjit Kaur(Image: WMP)
The family of a woman throttled to death by her husband just months after she filed for divorce have told how they ‘wish they could have done more’.
Paramjit Kaur fell unconscious as she was strangled by husband Harminder Mattu before he then stabbed her in the neck.
The 46-year-old’s murder came just two months after she filed for divorce and left the marital home – but Mattu ‘manipulated’ her into returning, claiming he was going to take his own life.
She had decided to leave their marriage of almost 10 years after being subjected to violent attacks at the hands of her ‘controlling’ husband, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.
Ms Kaur, 46, died at the property in Swan Crescent, Oldbury, in March 2025.
Mattu, 51, denied murder but was convicted by jurors following a trial earlier this year.
He was jailed for life, with a minimum term of 18 years, on Thursday, April 2.
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In a statement read to the court, Ms Kaur’s family told how they struggled when people in the community questioned what had happened to her.
They said: “We feel guilty that we did not know everything she was going through.
“We wish we could have done more to help her.”
Ms Kaur – who was known as Soni and originally from Punjab, India – was described as ‘hardworking, kind and charitable’.
Her family said: “She would give to people who needed it, she would help family members financially.
“She was not the eldest of the siblings but she behaved in a way that, in short, she looked after the whole family.”
They added: “Paramjit was very caring and was always there when we, as a family, needed her.
“We all went to her for advice and she was the person to talk to.
“Other people, such as friends and people in our community, would always go to her for help and advice.
“We all feel a huge loss not being able to call her and speak to her.
“Knowing she is gone and that we don’t have her support is very hard.”
They went on: “She was a very good person. We still can’t believe she is gone.”
Relatives in India, including Ms Kaur’s elderly parents, were told of the killing over the phone, the court heard.
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Harminder Mattu(Image: WMP)
The family said they have found to ‘difficult to understand’ how Mattu could ‘do this’, adding: “Then, to find out that her husband was responsible for her death, we were totally shocked.
“However, we did know that he was not a good person and he beat her up in December.”
The family told how in India, funerals are held soon after a person dies, usually within a couple of days.
But due to the circumstances of her death, Ms Kaur could not be laid to rest for six months.
The family said: “We wanted for her to be laid to rest and at peace but knowing she was in a mortuary for six months was very tormenting for us.”
Hours after the murder, Mattu walked into West Bromwich police station and told officers ‘I have murdered’.
Despite this, he denied murder in court and stood trial – but did not give evidence to jurors.
Judge Butterfield said he believed the knife wounds were inflicted when Ms Kaur was ‘at least unconscious and, in reality, close to death’.
But her family said that not knowing the exact circumstances which led to her death has been ‘tortuous’, adding ‘we just want to know what happened to Paramjit’.
Prosecutor Jonathan Barker told the court how the murder has had a ‘devastating impact’ on Ms Kaur’s mother Surinder Kaur – who lives in Punjab, India.
She feels ‘helpless’ and has struggled to sleep in the wake of her daughter’s death.
He said: “I was told that Surinder Kaur feels a degree of responsibility for what has happened because she was instrumental in the family sending Paramjit to this country to get married.”
Judge John Butterfield KC was sympathetic and said: “I dare say she was instrumental but that does not mean she should bear any responsibility.”
Jurors were told during the trial how forensic pathologist Dr Alexander Kolar believed Ms Kaur was strangled and then stabbed.
Mr Barker said: “Dr Kolar’s view was that the most likely sequence of events, based upon the medical findings, was that Ms Kaur was initially subjected to an episode of applied neck pressure, resulting in a profoundly unconscious state before she sustained the sharp force injuries.
“She then succumbed to the effects of the applied neck pressure – in other words, it was the pressure to the neck that caused her death.
“He, of course, acknowledges that another sequence of events is possible but that’s where the medical findings take Dr Kolar.
“What is clear is that the knife injuries did not cause Ms Kaur’s death.”
Mr Barker added: “It begs the question, doesn’t it, why this defendant would have strangled his wife and why he then used a knife to stab and cut her.”
Read more from court here.
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