- [Narrator] Every 90 seconds,
someone is reported missing. Many return to their families. For others, something
has gone seriously wrong. A family is left
without answers when their
sister-in-law vanishes. - No one can get
through to her, it's literally a dead line. - It wasn't just
another homicide. The context of this case
was really important. - [Narrator] Leading detectives
to raid a family home. - So all four of
us was arrested, taken to different
police stations. - [Narrator] What happens
in the police investigation that follows? - She went back
to the very house where the murder
had been arranged. She was incredibly brave. - [Narrator] What happens
to the family at its heart? - It was so heartbreaking
to see that happen, because we're
trying to find out what's happened to my auntie. [suspenseful music] - [Narrator] When
missing turns to murder. [airplane roaring] - When I first met Surjit, she came across a
nice bubbly person, really kind and understanding. - [Narrator] In 1986,
Sarbjit met Surjit when they were marrying
into the Athwal family, part of the tight-knit Sikh
community in Hayes, London. [gentle music] It was a proud moment
for Sarbjit's father. [somber music] - At first when my
daughter got married, we all were very happy. They are a good family. They are all happy. - [Narrator] In November,
1991, Surjit and her husband, Sukhdave Athwal, have
their first child together. A baby girl. Soon after, so does Sarbjit. - I had my first child in 1991. She kind of had
hers the same year. I think it was six weeks apart her daughter was born
and my daughter was born. So they kind of
grew up together. Me and her used to
get on really nicely. We spent time together, we were always in
the kitchen together, cooking and cleaning, so we
had a lot of time together. In our culture, we're
told from day one that when you move into
your husband's house and your family, you have
to make a effort 100% to get to know them, to get yourself involved in
their family and everything. [gentle music] - [Narrator] Surjit
makes an impression on her new relatives. - As an auntie, I remember
her being the sort of very, she was very confident. She was very open to talking
about life in general. I'd say she was very vibrant,
very open with her opinions. She wouldn't be scared
or afraid to say this is what she
liked or disliked or you know, openly talk
about her opinions on things. And I think that was nice
and that's what I remember. [gentle music] - [Narrator] Surjit
makes an effort to get involved with
the Athwal family. It's growing, so they buy
the house next door as well. - So we lived in
90 Willow Tree Lane and Surjit was 88
Willow Tree Lane. The 90 Willow Tree
Lane was the main house where mother-in-law lived, but she's bounced
between both houses. - [Narrator] Surjit and
Sarbjit's elderly mother-in-law is Bachan Kaur Athwal. And since her husband
has passed away, she's taken on the role of running the
expanding Athwal family. - My duties around the house was mainly looking after
the kids when we had kids, looking after my mother-in-law. It was quite a big family. She had four
daughters of her own and they had kids as well
and they had husbands. So when everybody came over,
it was quite a full on house. - [Narrator] Bachan
Kaur and her husband had immigrated to the UK from
the Punjab region of India, and being a deeply
religious woman, she upholds the
traditional Sikh faith across the entire
family network. - At a young age, I was told
what to do, what not to do, what was right, what was wrong. I was also told
about shame and honor and how important that
one was in our culture. - [Narrator] And Bachan Kaur
wants everyone in her family to know who's in charge. [suspenseful music] - She started warning
me to make sure I was kind of being that
dutiful daughter-in-law, making sure I was staying
within the family culture and listening to
them, obeying them. So living in that family
was quite restricting. A lot of control was put on, because I think as
daughter-in-laws, we have to maintain this
certain image within the family you are married into. [somber music] [airplane roaring] - [Narrator] Surjit also
supports the growing family by working hard. - My auntie, she used to
work at Heathrow Airport as a custom and excise officer. She was there for a
very, very long time. - She was really proud of
it, she made herself happy. She was really
pleasant at work. And as we do that sometimes, when we go to work, we socialize with a bit of
different kind of people. We make new friends. [ominous music] - [Narrator] But Surjit's
work and lifestyle doesn't sit well with
mother-in-law, Bachan Kaur. - My mother-in-law
was the main person who kind of said that
members of the community were constantly talking
about Surjit's behavior, how she wasn't behaving like
a dutiful daughter-in-law. - Growing up as a Sikh
in these communities, I could see there
were young girls who faced quite
severe restrictions, who faced the wrath of
their family members if they were too westernized
or too modernized or had a boyfriend. It's sometimes called,
so-called honor-based abuse and it's a umbrella
term which is used for a range of behaviors
to control women and girls so that they are conforming
to the expected social norms or cultural norms or religious
norms of that community. - [Narrator] Surjit
also experiences control over her finances. She has to hand over all
her wages to her husband and Bachan Kaur to
help run both homes. - They were only able
to buy that house, because of the way Surjit
was working really hard. And she bought that house,
she wanted her own privacy, that she could
have her own space. When they bought that house, my mother-in-law
thought actually she can be in and
out both houses. [ominous music] - [Narrator] Bachan
Kaur is closely involved in overseeing the affairs
of the whole family across both homes. [lively instrumental music] And some of those affairs are
two family weddings in India that she wants to go to. She invites her
daughter-in-law,
Surjit, to go with her. - She seemed quite happy. She seemed quite, you know,
getting on with everybody, engaging with
everyone, you know? Speaking about
how she was gonna go to various places in India and how she was gonna
do her shopping, buy new outfits for
herself and her kids. She was really excited. [lively music] - [Narrator] Having said
goodbye to her family, Surjit and Bachan Kaur fly
from London, Heathrow to Delhi. [dramatic music] On the 5th and 6th of December, they enjoy the celebrations
in rural India. [lively traditional music] Surjit's husband, Sukhdave,
keeps in touch from London. - And I remember Sukhdave
would come over to our house, from 88 to number 90 and make phone calls to India, speaking to his mum. I don't know what
the conversations
were between them, but it was an ongoing pattern. He always made calls
from that house. [airplane roaring] - [Narrator] Two weeks later, the return flight from India
touches down in the UK, but Bachan Kaur returns alone. Astonishingly, 27 year old
mother of two, Surjit Athwal, has vanished while in India. [tense music] - The point that we realized
my auntie's gone missing, is when, so we'd assume
that she's gonna come back at a certain day, she'll be
coming back with the family. So we'll actually hear
back to see, you know, how did the wedding go? How was your holiday? We tried calling her. I remember my grandfather
trying to call her and my dad trying to call her. All of her siblings
trying to call her. No one can get through to her. It's literally a dead line. - [Narrator] Surjit's
brother, Jagdeesh Singh, hears that she's not
come back from India. - He spoke to Sukhdave and
said, "Where's my sister?" And they said, "Your
sister, she went to India. She's not come back, she wanted
to stay a few days longer. We don't know." So when my
mother-in-law said that, you know, Surjit's gone missing and he was in a panic
thinking that, you know, "How come you're back from
India and she's not back?" - I don't know where
your daughter's gone. We took her to the wedding, we've got proof that
she was at the wedding. She showed the video
to my grandfather to show that actually we
took her to the wedding. We don't know where
she went afterwards. [suspenseful music] - Jagdeesh was putting
pressure on my mother-in-law that you need to
alert the police and tell them that
she's missing. They were trying to pass time, saying that, "Just
give it a few days, maybe she might come back. We don't need to
alert the police." But he was putting
more and more pressure on Sukhdave as
well, saying that, "If you're not gonna
contact the police, I will." [tense music] [airplane roaring] - [Narrator] Jagdeesh finds
it difficult to believe that his sister could
abandon her children. - The daughter was 10. She was asking, "When's
my mom coming back?" [somber music] - [Narrator] He
reports her missing to the Metropolitan Police. - He's the one who contacted
the police and said, "My sister's gone to India. She's not back." - [Narrator] Police
visit the family home to understand what's happened. - They would speak
to Bachan Kaur, they would speak to Sukhdave,
no other family member. I was always kept
in the back room, but I often, from
the kitchen area, would peep through
the front room and see the police officers and they could see me
and they would see me and just speak to Bachan
Kaur and speak to Sukhdave and just leave the house. [gentle music] - [Narrator] Jagdeesh
asks the police to speak to the community. - They should speak
to the local temple, maybe somebody's seen
her or heard from her and then they put
up some posters at the local
Gurudwara, our temple, in Punjabi on one side and
English on the other side so people could
read both languages. - [Narrator] Surjit's family help publicize
her disappearance. - We had leaflets with a reward to basically hang onto trees. Every tree we could find,
which we were doing. We did it mainly the
Asian communities, because that's where
more than likely someone within the
Asian community is
gonna know something. That's what we were hoping. [suspenseful music] What was upsetting though,
as we are putting them up, they were getting removed. It was heartbreaking. It was so heartbreaking
to see that happen, because we're
trying to find out what's happened to my auntie
for the children's sake, for the family's sake and we're trying to
reach out for help, like please help us and we're
not getting that in return, instead we're being rejected. It was at a point where
even my father was thinking, "We're at a standstill. What do we do?" - [Narrator] Jagdeesh
tries everything to help find his sister. - My dad wrote to
the prime minister. My grandfather
wrote to the queen. There was literally
everything that could be done to reach out for help, you know, please
we're desperate. - [Narrator] Over the
next two painful years, Jagdeesh continues
trying to find out what has happened
to sister, Surjit. Then out of the
blue, there's news. - We received a
phone call from India to say, "By the way, "your daughter has been killed. "She's been thrown in the river "and you're not
gonna get her back." Literally within
that phone call, it was said that, "We
can't tell you who we are. "We're scared for
our own lives, "because we know
the truth ourselves. [suspenseful music] "But this is exactly
what's happened." and the line was cut
dead at that point. - [Narrator] Jagdeesh presses
the police to do something. [dramatic music] - I was in the bathroom
when I heard taps on my door and when I open the door, there's two police
officers standing outside and I was shocked. - [Narrator] Police are looking for Surjit's husband, Sukhdave, her brother-in-law, Hardave, and elderly mother-in-law,
Bachan Kaur. - And I remember the police
officer saying to me, "You're arrested for
conspiracy of murder." [lively instrumental music] - [Narrator] Sarbjit is
also taken into custody for questioning. - All four of us was arrested and taken to different
police stations. - [Narrator] Sarbjit
realizes that this is her opportunity to speak
out against her family and tell the police
the real story of what's been happening
for over a decade, and how she thinks her
sister-in-law was murdered. - And it was going
to be challenging, because Sarbjit, she
was seen as a suspect. - [Sarbjit] So I was trying
to do the right thing, tell the officers this
is what's going on. - [Narrator] Sarbjit
tells the police what Surjit's life
at home was like. - She started going
out, socializing
with different people from different backgrounds and that kind of
behavior would be seen by members from our community and they would report
that back to Sukhdave. So he would get more
angry and thinking that, you know, "My wife,
what is she doing?" Because he wouldn't accept
her having new friends. All he wanted her
to do, go to work, come back home and that was it. - [Narrator] She then reveals
what Bachan Kaur was like behind closed doors. - And mother-in-law
become angry and I remember at one point, you know, they were
both beating her up, shouting and screaming at her. Saying that they didn't
want her to go back to work, she should stay at home
and look after the kids. - [Narrator] Sarbjit
then reveals to police that Bachan Kaur called
a private family meeting for a select few. [suspenseful music] - I remember mother-in-law
came from the house next door. She told me to put some tea on, then the doorbell rang
again, Sukhdave came in and one of the daughter-in-laws
came in as well and we were sitting in the
front room around the table. [suspenseful music] But the whole atmosphere
around that meeting was really unpleasant and cold. And then my mother-in-law
went on to say that Surjit's behavior
was out of control and she said that she was
gonna take her to India and get rid of her. [ominous music] And I looked at the
other family members
around the table, none of them said a word. It was just so hard to believe that she was talking about
taking her daughter-in-law and just getting rid of her. I didn't know what to
do, I was really scared. - [Narrator] Sarbjit confronts
her husband, Hardave. - Over a number of days,
I kept saying to him, "You need to speak to your
mom, because this is not right. You can't do this, you know,
she's a mom of two kids." He just wanted me
to shut up about it, not talk about it at all and it wasn't something
I could just forget. - [Narrator] In her
police interview, Sarbjit then reveals
the lengths she went to to stop the plan. [ominous music] [airplane roaring] [somber music] - The following day
I rang Crimestoppers and I told them everything
that was said at the meeting and also on the same day, I wrote a letter to my
local police station saying that this is
what's happening. There was a meeting
held in this house. These are the family members who were around the
table at the time, this is what
mother-in-law announced, this is what she was saying and Surjit's life
could be in danger. And also saying that this is where they're
gonna stay in India and these are the
family members in India who are also part of what
may happen out there. [somber music] So all that information
was given to them. [ominous music] - [Narrator] Sarbjit
finishes telling the police everything she knows about
Surjit's life and death. - The officer, who
I actually thought he was gonna understand
and listen to me, said to me that,
"We actually think, you know, you're just
making the whole thing up. You're just lying about this, because you're just
trying to save yourself and we just think you've
got mental health issues. You need to go and see
a doctor and get help." And I think that was the
moment I realized actually, you're not gonna help me. You're not even understanding
what I'm trying to tell you. Every information
I've given to you, you're just dismissing it. - [Narrator] All the family
are released without charge. There's not enough evidence. - My dad was in
India at the time. I rang him from a phone box. I was really, really
upset and angry. I was quite low,
in a dark place. - I was sad, because they
put pressure on my daughter and after that, I don't
know what what they will do. I was worried. I feel that, Buchan's
family now, like enemy. They are enemy to my daughter. [somber music] - [Narrator] Sarbjit
now has to go home and live with the family
she knows are involved with the death of
her sister-in-law and the police
investigation is over. - It was getting
really, really worrying and then dad had a gut feeling that something is
definitely not right here. She's not being her usual self. She's so vibrant and
even that side of her has gone really quiet,
like what's going on? - [Narrator] Sarbjit's
every move is now monitored and controlled by Bachan
Kaur and Surjit's husband. - Sukhdave, I got the
feeling he wasn't friendly. So that pressure
come to my daughter. So that pressure
come every day. Every day bad, bad, bad. So there was no
happy in that house. Always they are all
quiet...sadness. - It was really difficult
staying in that family, but I knew in the background, my mom and dad were both
there supporting me. - [Narrator] Sarbjit's
trapped at home with threats to her life and threats to her
children if she speaks out. - I just had to
stay in that life and just accept
what's been offered and just accept what my
life was in that family. [suspenseful music] - Things went very quiet
from her end, totally quiet. She wasn't able to fully
express what was going on. [ominous music] - I can recall the first time that I heard about
Surjit Athwal, 'cause it was a phone call
from the family liaison officer and he almost begged
me to take this case, because he said it had just
be beaten up and pushed about. - [Narrator] Clive Driscoll
is a detective chief inspector for London's
Metropolitan Police. - It was Sarbjit
Athwal's dad that phoned and said, look, this is, you
know, this is what he knew. He believed Sarbjit Athwal
had told him something and he felt that he
should tell the police. - [Narrator] The reason
Clive's received the call, is that he'd recently taken
over a new police task force under instructions from his
superior, Gordon Briggs. - Mr Briggs phoned me up and
asked if I'd take over a unit, which was called the Racial
and Violent Crime Task Force. And that unit had actually
been set up to look at cases that maybe that we could
have done slightly better, but it also took on cases which had a racial
overtone to them or that there was difficulties. - [Narrator] DCI Driscoll
first needs to review all the case notes and evidence relating to the disappearance
of Surjit Athwal back in 1998. - Operation Newlands
is what it was called, and I went to Feltham
Police station and spoke to the office manager who told me that they didn't
have an Operation Newlands. Actually, said, "We haven't
got an Operation Newlands." And as I looked up in
the air in despair, there was 12 boxes with
Newlands written on it and he said, "Well, that
hasn't been down for years," and it hadn't, 'cause
it was covered in dust. I can remember it
was all done on paper and majority had been done on
the old system, card system. And I can remember I took
it home for the weekend and read it all and
I probably knew less at the end of the week
than I knew at the start. It was just so confusing. One of the very first
decisions I made, was to put it on HOLMES. - [Narrator] HOLMES
is a sophisticated police computer system. In an instant, it
can crosscheck a vast
amount of records across the nation's
police forces. - And I will say that once
that started going on HOLMES, it just made sense. It enables you to
see it as a job, as opposed to 13
boxes of papers. And then you did start
looking at different suspects. You did start
looking at different, if you like, people
giving you a story and you thought, "Well,
that can't be right." - [Narrator] The computer
system even brings up the anonymous warning a worried
Sarbjit had sent to police the day her sister-in-law
flew to India. - Within the seconds
we'd found the letter where she told us
what had gone on. - [Narrator] Clive
gets back in touch with Sarbjit's
father, Sewa Bath and sets up a
meeting at his home. - I think Clive is a policeman. He do his duty perfectly. He did very good work. [somber music] - And I remember turning
up and Mrs Athwal, and I don't blame
her for this at all, never looked at me once. She spent her entire
time like that, with her head down
looking at the floor. - So when I met Clive, I
was angry at the same time and I had no trust, but I gave him all the
information I could for him to build a picture
of what was going on. And we spent probably a good
few hours talking and talking and I told him when
I was arrested, I told the officers
about the letter. They didn't believe me. They said I was just
making it all up. And I think Clave had
a different approach. I got a sense from him though he's understanding what
I was trying to tell him. And at one point he said, "I actually believe
what you're saying." And that was a huge relief, thinking actually
I've got somebody here who is gonna take me seriously. - And I felt, crikey, you
know this woman is really, you know, she's petrified and I admired her just for
coming up and seeing me. She didn't know me, I mean,
I'm a white police officer she never met
before in her life. - [Narrator] After
several meetings, Clive and his team
persuade Sarbjit to make an official statement
at Feltham Police Station. - And I remember when I
went there, I was shaken up. I was really scared,
thinking if somebody sees me going into the police station, I could be in a lot of trouble. - [Narrator] Because of
the cultural complexities of the unfolding case, a legal team with personal
experience is appointed. - I've been a prosecutor
for over 33 years in the Crown
Prosecution Service, and throughout my
professional career, I've dealt with cases of
so-called honor-based abuse and forced marriage. I also was aware
of these matters on a kind of personal basis, 'cause I was brought
up in Asian communities where things like
this happened. Professionally,
these cases have been some of the most
heart-wrenching cases I've dealt with in my career. We do have evidential
challenges with these cases, because most of the evidence is going to be against
family members. - I made a statement, it was
tape recorded, video recorded and it was really
difficult telling them all the information
that went on from '98, how my mother actually
sat around the table and announced what
she was gonna do. - And there would've
been a family meeting, which was unusual
for daughter-in-laws
to be included in, but she was called in
where Bachan Kaur Athwal suddenly announced that they
were taking Surjit to India and she just clicked
her fingers and went, "We're getting rid of her." [ominous music] - [Narrator] Part of
Bachan Kaur's anger stems from Surjit wanting
a divorce from her son. - One of her ways to
get Surjit to India was that if you go to India
one more time with me, show yourself out there, be
the dutiful daughter-in-law, come to these weddings
and when you come back, you can have your divorce. So I think that was a trick
to get Surjit over to India. - [Narrator] Sarbjit goes over
everything she knows again, except now her account
of Surjit's fate
is taken seriously. [pensive music] - She was driven
out by relatives. There were witnesses out there that said they'd seen
Surjit get into a Land Rover and disappear and
never come back. Then Bachan Kaur Athwal come
back and confessed to that. It was confessional evidence. She confessed to it to Sarbjit. - [Narrator] When
Bachan Kaur had returned without her daughter-in-law,
Sarbjit had spoken out. - I hardly ever pressured
my mother-in-law, because the kind
of person she was, controlling and she looked
quite fearful kind of thing. But that day, something
inside me was telling me to put more pressure on her to find out exactly
what's happening. So I said to, "Surjit," and she said that it's
been taken care of. She's not gonna be back. We can now happily
carry on with our lives. [tense music] Mother-in-law's words were
that they drugged her, strangled her and then she
was thrown in the river. And I kind of got
shivers, you know, and I was really feeling
sick to my stomach thinking that, how can you
just be telling me this? You know, this is
your daughter-in-law
we're talking about, she'd left two kids behind. [suspenseful music] - They didn't want her to
bring shame on the family, because divorce was
seen as a failure, as a negative and effectively,
outsource her murder to her family in India
who carried out the act. The plotting was done
in a front room parlor in West London over tea and the actual physical
act happened in India. [suspenseful music] - [Narrator] But with no body and a crime carried out on
the other side of the world, police start to compile
circumstantial evidence, starting with the Athwals'
financial affairs. - We found four life
insurance policies, about 250 grand each, that in fact that
they'd taken out three or four days
before she traveled. - [Narrator] Then
Clive crosschecks the
divorce proceedings that missing Surjit's husband
now wanted to push through. - Sukhdave spoke to
the registrar and
said she was dead. So that's a government
agency, the registrar, whilst he was saying to the
police government agency, she's run to Mumbai, basically was saying
two different things. - We needed more. We also know that
Sukhdave and Bachan tried to cover their tracks by sending letters to
the police in the Punjab, purporting to be from
the Metropolitan Police. So fraudulent letters
saying she's back home, everything's okay. Tried to put them
off investigating
the murder in India. - [Narrator] Speaking
to many people who know the Athwals also
throws up inconsistencies. - We also know that they tried to tell lots of members
of the communities that she'd gone off
with her boyfriend and she'd abandoned
her children. Lie after lie after lie and
they continued with that. - [Narrator] Police press
on interviewing Sarbjit, even though she still has to
live with the Athwal family while secretly giving
statements against them. - She did that and
then went home. She went back to the very house where the murder
had been arranged. She was incredibly brave. [suspenseful music] - [Narrator] But Sarbjit's
life is thrown into danger too. There's a press leak announcing the investigation
has been reopened. Mother-in-law, Bachan Kaur
makes a sudden appearance at Sarbjit and her
husband's home. - Bachan came over to
90 Willow Tree Lane and she wanted me to sleep
in the same bed with her, which I'd never done before. - [Narrator] Sarbjit's
husband insists she must spend the
night with Bachan Kaur, but before she does, Sarbjit makes a secret
call to her sister who knows what the stakes are. - And I remember her
telling me actually, "You have to get out if your mother-in-law is
staying there the night. You need to leave now." And I said, "I can't leave,
I've got my kids at home. I'm not gonna leave my
kids, I'm gonna stay here." But I said to her, "If you can just let the
police know what's going on." - [Narrator] Sarbjit's
sister urgently tries to contact DCI Clive Driscoll. - And I can remember, I
pulled a load of strings and got the helicopter
just to hover, probably busy doing other
things, but it hovered. I did it so she could hear it so she knew that people cared. - Knowing that
helicopter was there and there was somebody
keeping an eye on us to making sure we were safe, and even though I was sleeping in the same bed with
my mother-in-law, I kind of felt some
sense of safety in case somebody took me out
the back gate or something. But that night was really,
really scary for me. - [Narrator] Sarbjit makes
it through the night. But the next morning
over breakfast, Bachan Kaur makes a
chilling familiar proposal. - She came and sat
next to me and said, "I've made your tea today." She hardly makes tea. And then she went on
to say that, she goes, "Since you've been
married in this family, we haven't had a trip together and let's plan something
to India to go together." And that was the moment
I realized actually, I know exactly what
you're talking about. - Whoa, no that's enough,
you know, 'cause at the time, and I say this with
immense respect to her, she was trying to keep
her family together. She was trying to keep her
little world for her children. But I'm a police
officer and you know, someone's trying
to take someone, they've already
murdered someone, so they're trying to take
them to the very same place. No, enough's enough. - [Narrator] Police swoop in
on the Athwal family home. They arrest mother-in-law,
Bachan Kaur, Surjit's husband, Sukhdave, and Sarbjit's husband, Hardave. All are charged with
conspiracy to murder. - And I think that
two days later, we moved her out and put
her in a place of safety. - [Narrator] Sarbjit's
arrest is staged so her family don't suspect
her of informing on them. She's quickly released, but
so too is husband Hardave and the threats begin when Sarbjit comes
to see her children, still living at
the Athwal house. [somber music] - Hardave came out and
was threatening me, saying that, "You've said
something to the police. Because of your statement, Sukhdave and my mom
hasn't come out. Whatever you told the police, you need to go
back to the police and tell them that you
know, you've got confused or you've made it up." And there's a lot of pressure
from his sisters and Hardave, saying that it doesn't matter
where the police put you, we're gonna find you and
you're gonna be dealt with. [somber music] - She was assaulted. She was pushed down the stairs, you know, her kids were told
visitation rights, you know, there were threats made. - [Narrator] As the
family intimidate Sarbjit, police are mounting up the
case for a murder trial. - When we arrested
another blood relative, they had information in her
diary, "Mum's a murderer." You know, they had information that Bachan Kaur had told them that she'd had Surjit murdered. So we now had two witnesses,
prosecution witnesses, telling us this was a murder,
confessional evidence. - [Narrator] Clive
decides to enroll serving officers onto his team who come from the
Punjab communities. - Well, I thought, there are
things, you could insult people and not even know
you'd done it. You know, there are
different niceties that you have to understand. If you want people to help you, they've gotta understand
you're trying. So Palbinder Singh, who
was a detective constable, was incredibly helpful in just letting me
understand the culture. - [Narrator] This
decision would prove key during a search
of the Athwal home when Detective Constable
Palbinder Singh was present. - Upstairs, we
had a prayer room. We only went into that
room if we wanted to pray. No other person is
allowed in that room. So you go in there, if
you take your shoes off, you cover your head,
you can go in that room. Palbinder Singh, when
he was doing the search around the house
with other officers, he went upstairs,
he saw that room. - [Narrator] A search
is taking place, because family members have
made threats to Sarbjit using handwritten notes. It's witness intimidation. - Because they believed
that we bugged the house, they were giving
notes, not talking. - He was a Punjabi officer,
so he knew about the culture and how things
kind of played out. He looked around and everything and we've got the Holy
Bible where we pray. And I don't know what
came into his mind, you never touch that Bible
unless you're gonna pray, and I dunno what
came into his mind. He went in there, he
touched the Bible, he opened it with every respect
and he turned the pages, and right at the back,
he found little notes. Hardave wrote notes to me. He hid the notes in
there, in that Bible. - So we went straight out
and arrested the person and found the notes, which I think were not
just from that person. - [Narrator] The witness
intimidation charges are ultimately dropped, but
the Crown Prosecution Service sends Clive out to India to obtain every
shred of additional
circumstantial evidence. [dramatic music] - We went out
there for 10 days. We went and saw the River Ravi and we actually
interviewed people. They said, "Oh, she just
wandered off with her bags." We'd proved that
she couldn't have just wandered off on her own. Well, you couldn't
do that in India. You know, that
part of the world, a woman, a western
woman walking about would be in extreme danger. [dramatic music] - [Narrator] With a full
police investigation underway, Surjit's brother,
Jagdeesh, is exhausted. - My father's health
has deteriorated. I think everything
that he's been through, I think mentally it's
taken so much toll on him that is, where he
wasn't giving up on the murder investigation, I think what's happened now, is that he's got
to a point sadly, where he's given up on himself. He put so much energy
into finding out the truth and he wasn't gonna give up, but what it's done to
his body and his soul, it's drained him and
he's openly said to me, "I've given up on myself." - [Narrator] But while
members of the Athwal family continue to be
hostile to Sarbjit, Bachan Kaur and
her son Sukhdave are never released
from custody. Now, finally they face
trial for the murder of Surjit Athwal. [ominous music] - There is no place quite
like the Old Bailey. The courtrooms are some of
the most famous courtrooms in the land. And so to come
and give evidence is probably to come into the most overwhelming and intimidating arena that
it's possible to imagine. - The QC for the prosecution
was able to open that case, to be able to tell the jury that this was not just
a simple case of murder. This was about the family, the
wider family, the community. This was a murder which started In West London and ended in the Punjab,
in Northwest India, with a body which
was never discovered. - It's long been settled law that it is legally permissible to prosecute in a case where there has been
no recovery of a body, but it does pose enormous
challenges to the prosecution. - [Narrator] For Sarbjit,
having to testify against her own family,
is a terrifying endeavor. - It was really nerve-wrecking
for me going into court, I was really scared. I was really shaky,
I was in a panic. - [Narrator] Sarbjit
is not allowed a privacy screen in court and in the presence
of the accused, gives evidence
for two full days. - The defense approach
was that Sarbjit had made these allegations up and that there had
been no murder. They put to Sarbjit things like family photos that had been taken after
Surjit's disappearance that appeared to show that this was a happy,
harmonious family and a completely different
kind of family situation to the kind that
you would expect after there'd been a murder. - My faith in God
has never gone away. It's always been there. When I was in that
box giving evidence, I felt like God was with me. He was there
guiding me through. And I think that's
how I got through. - [Narrator] But
there's still no body to prove Surjit
is actually dead, so it falls on the volume
of circumstantial evidence collected by Clive
and his team. - They were able to
demonstrate that Surjit had not taken the
return flight, her bank account
and her credit card had not been used since
the trip to India. Her mobile phone
had not been used. There'd been no
renewal of her passport and more significantly, that Surjit had never been
in contact with her children and so the prosecution
were able to say, all traces of her life
had come to an end with the visit to India. - The important evidence that
Sarbjit was able to give, was bringing that
case back to life seven years after
Surjit had gone missing by detailing every
step and the background as to how she lived,
because remember, she was also a
daughter-in-law in that house. And we had to
explain to the jury why she didn't give
her statement earlier, why she hadn't gone
to the police earlier. In fact, she left a
call with Crimestoppers. She'd sent anonymous
letters to the police. - She was able to
give direct evidence that there had been
a planned murder and she had been present
at a family meeting where Bachan had said that they
were all fed up with Surjit and that they wanted
to get rid of her. - It wasn't just a
domestic abuse murder, it wasn't just
another homicide. The context of this case
was really important, which was so-called
honor-based abuse. Somebody who had brought
shame on the family and because of that,
she was killed. [ominous music] - You can only do as
much as you can do. You can call all
of your evidence and you can present your case, but after that stage, it really is in the
hands of the jury and there is no way of knowing what the jury are going
to make of your case. [suspenseful music] - It was a unanimous verdict. They've both been found guilty. - I think I
actually found peace when I heard that they're
both found guilty, because I never knew we were
gonna get to that stage. So I feel a relief thinking we've got
justice for Surjit now, you know, finally
after all these years, we've got justice for her and also for her kids as well, because they've been
told for so many years, "Your mom left you because
she didn't love you." [suspenseful music] - [Narrator] Bachan Kaur
receives a 20 year sentence reduced to 15 on appeal. Her son, Surjit's husband,
is given 27 years, but he too appealed,
bringing it down to 20. But the sentencing
means so much more. - It was the first case of
so-called honor-based abuse where the killing had
taken place abroad which we successfully
prosecuted in the CPS. And it sent a really strong
message to the communities that however old you are,
however revered you are, however religious
you might seem, if we can build a case and
have sufficient evidence, we will prosecute it as murder,
because that's what it is and you will be
convicted of murder. - The Athwal trial was in
many ways, a landmark case, because not only was Surjit's
body was never recovered, but also, this was a murder that had taken place
thousands of miles away, and so in that sense, it
was legally groundbreaking. - Whoever was living in denial, they finally got
to see the truth and I think that was
the main important thing and the main thing that brought
so much relief to all of us. The experience had brought
a voice to other women that actually we're not
gonna suffer in silence. This is what we've
been through too, because it brought a
lot of other issues to the surface as well
throughout the Asian community, throughout other
communities as well. - If I hadn't received
the support from Clive, I wouldn't know how
this would've all gone. He was the only person
who actually listened and took out the time
to understand what
I was telling him and he basically saved my life. - She saved her life, not me. I did what I was paid to do. I know that after she gave
evidence, she collapsed. I know that for a fact,
in her sister's arms. I can't imagine the
pressure she was under. I can't imagine how difficult
it must have been for her. - [Narrator] But Sarbjit
found a remarkable strength and purpose through
her decade-long ordeal. - I've set up a charity
called True Honour. We support victims
of honor-based abuse and forced marriages. We get victims who
come to us directly and we can support them. We train police forces and other professionals
around the country, helping them understand what
these hidden crimes are. - [Narrator] Sarbjit strives to stop so-called
honor killings, like her
sister-in-law's, Surjit. - Surjit was a really
lovely, caring person. She didn't deserve
what happened to her. She shouldn't have been
taken away so young. And I just feel her
kids, wherever they are, whatever they're doing,
I just hope they carry on with the memory of
their mum inside them, knowing that how
proud she was of them. Yeah. [somber music] [lively instrumental music]
