The family of a woman stabbed to death as she slept in bed with her husband and three-month-old baby have pleaded for justice and the return of her body to India. Kirandeep Kaur, who had been living in the UK since 2024 on a student visa, was killed at her home in Hayes, west London, on the morning of 12 July. She suffered a stab wound to the chest and was pronounced dead at 8.26am, prosecutors told the Old Bailey.
Daniel Sean James, 46, from Pinner in north-west London, has been charged with her murder, as well as attempted murder and possessing a blade. The court heard allegations that James broke into the family home, stabbed Kaur, and had also stabbed a man in his 20s in the back on a nearby street shortly before – a stranger to both victims. James left the Kaurs' home two minutes later by jumping out of a window from the kitchen-living-room area, breaking both ankles, and allegedly tried to flee but collapsed after 10 metres. Judge Lickley set a plea hearing for 1 October and a provisional three-week trial from 5 April next year.
“Kirandeep Kaur's mother pleads for body return as boyfriend shares last words of alligator victim Brittany Clark.”
Speaking from India to ITV News, Kaur's mother, Baljeet, said: "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 found out only on Friday that she had died. "We were shocked. We don't understand what we can do," he said. A GoFundMe page set up by the Sri Guru Singh Sabha Southall gurdwara to raise money for funeral arrangements and repatriation had raised more than £55,000 as of Monday morning.
Separately, a Florida woman was mauled to death by a 13ft alligator while hiking with her boyfriend and friends. Brittany Clark, 31, was standing in around three feet of water in the Econlockhatchee River at Little Big Econ State Forest on June 28 when the alligator lunged and grabbed her arm, pulling her into a death roll. Her boyfriend, Chance Allison, wrestled with the animal and was dragged into the water himself. The alligator briefly released Clark before attacking again, biting her other arm. Allison eventually freed her, and the alligator retreated, but Clark had suffered a partially severed left arm and an open fracture to her right arm, according to a medical examiner's report. First responders detected a faint pulse before rushing her to hospital, but she died during the journey and was officially pronounced dead at 2.48pm, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Wildlife officers captured and killed two alligators – one 12.5ft and the other 13ft – and DNA testing confirmed the larger animal killed Clark. Allison later paid tribute to Brittany on Facebook, writing: "I'm just still in disbelief of what took place." He told The New York Post that one of Brittany's last words was to ask him to take care of her dog, Hokie.