Three Sikh men and a woman have received lengthy jail sentences after being convicted of slashing an elderly Indian general in the neck.
Lieutenant General Kuldeep Brar, 78, who was involved in a military operation against Sikh militants in Amritsar in 1984 that left around 1,000 people dead, was attacked by a gang of four during a visit to London.
He was walking with his wife on Old Quebec Street near Marble Arch when he was ambushed on 30 September last year.
Mandeep Singh Sandhu, 35, of Great Barr, Birmingham, and Dilbag Singh, 37, of no fixed abode, were on Tuesday sentenced to 14 years in prison while Harjit Kaur, 39, of Hayes, Middlesex, was jailed for 11 years, a Metropolitan police spokesman said.
They were all found guilty of wounding with intent following a trial at Southwark crown court in July after a jury took just an hour to convict them.
A third man – Barjinder Singh Sangha, 34, of Wolverhampton, had previously pleaded guilty to wounding with intent and was sentenced to 10 and a half years.
Singh Sangha had also been charged with the common assault of Meena Brar, Kuldeep Singh Brar’s wife, but the offence was ordered to lie on file.
The victim’s role in the Indian army, overseeing “a number of military operations … made him a target for Sikh extremist groups”, the court heard.
The attack on the now retired general was described as “highly premeditated”.