Indian-origin man jailed for life for father\'s murder with champagne bottle in UK

London: An Indian-origin man who was found guilty of the murder of his father by smashing a champagne bottle over his head in north London has been sentenced to life imprisonment.

Deekan Paul Singh Vig, 54, was convicted following a trial at the Old Bailey court last month and was sentenced for a minimum term of 18 years before being considered for parole at the same court on Friday.

“The actions of Deekan Paul Singh Vig have left his family devastated – they must continue to deal with the loss of a loved one while he will spend a significant period of time in jail as a consequence of his actions,” said Wayne Jolley, Detective Chief Inspector of the Metropolitan Police who led the murder investigation.

The Met Police said Vig's father, 86-year-old Arjan Singh Vig, lived at the same home as him in Southgate, north London, where police were called to a disturbance in October 2021. Despite the efforts of emergency services, Arjan was pronounced dead at the scene, the police said.

“A post-mortem examination gave the cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head,” the police said.

Later, the trial heard how officers found the body of Arjan on the floor of his son's bedroom with his “head caved in”.

According to the ‘Evening Standard' newspaper, his son was naked and surrounded by about 100 bottles of Champagne, including blood-stained bottles of Veuve Cliquot and Bollinger.

“I killed my dad. I hit him over the head with a f***ing bloody bottle of Bollinger champagne,” he reportedly said.

Jurors heard how Vig had lived with his accountant father and zoologist mother Damanjit Vig, 85, in their four-bedroom home for about 40 years. The family had moved from Uganda to the UK when Vig was aged five at the time Idi Amin expelled members of the South Asian community from the east African country.

The court was told that Vig had developed a taste for alcohol during the COVID lockdown and admitted to drinking 500ml of whisky earlier on the evening of the incident.

At the crime scene, police uncovered 100 bottles of champagne, 10 Amazon delivery boxes of whisky bottles, and an empty bottle of Talisker Scotch on the bed.

Vig had denied murder but admitted manslaughter on the second day of his trial on the basis that he did not intend to cause his father really serious harm.

However, the jury deliberated for less than a day to find him guilty of murder.