The husband of 24-year-old Kirandeep Kaur woke to a scream — and saw a figure fleeing the bedroom where she lay fatally wounded beside their three-month-old baby. It was 7.51am on July 12, and Daniel Sean James had allegedly just kicked in the door of their Hayes home, walked through the playing field dressed all in black and carrying a large knife, and left a young mother with a stab wound to the chest. She was pronounced dead at 8.26am.
James, 46, of Pinner, west London, is said to have approached three different addresses caught on CCTV and doorbell cameras before coming up behind a man in his 20s and stabbing him in the back. Minutes later, he targeted Kaur’s home in Uxbridge Road. Prosecutor Charlene Sumnall told the Old Bailey that both victims were complete strangers to the defendant.
“A 24-year-old mother was stabbed to death by a stranger while asleep beside her husband and baby.”
After the attack, James jumped out of a window from the kitchen-living room area, breaking both ankles. He tried to flee but collapsed after 10 metres and was treated in hospital before being taken into custody. He was charged with murder, attempted murder and having a blade.
Kaur had been living in the UK since 2024 on a student visa. Her mother Baljeet told ITV News: “We send them somewhere safe to study then this happens. We didn’t realise hooliganism and violence is happening there too. We want justice, we want our daughter’s body returned from Hayes.”
Kaur’s brother Gurvinder Singh said the family learned of her death only on Friday: “We were shocked, we don’t understand what we can do.” He added that they have no one to bring her body back to their village in Punjab. A GoFundMe page set up by the Sri Guru Singh Sabha Southall Gurdwara has raised more than £34,600 for funeral arrangements and repatriation.
James appeared at the Old Bailey by video link from Wormwood Scrubs, speaking only to confirm his identity. Judge Nigel Lickley KC set a plea hearing for October 1 and a provisional three-week trial from April 5 next year. James was remanded into custody.