FOUR JAILED FOR LIFE FOR MURDERING SHOPKEEPER AS HIS CHILDREN WATCHED ATTACK ON CCTV

Four men who brutally murdered a Sri Lankan born shopkeeper while his children watched on CCTV have been jailed for life by a UK court.

Suppiah Tharmaseelan, 48, died after being stabbed, punched, kicked and eventually chased out of his own store in November 27 last year.

Twins Ian and John Meenan, Anthony Bayliss and his half-brother Liam Ryan were given minimum terms of between 20 and 27 years for killing the father-of-four.

Passing sentence at Birmingham Crown Court, Mr Justice Wyn Williams described the killing in the Kingstanding area of the city as a “mindless” attack on a vulnerable victim.

A fifth defendant, getaway driver James Moore, was jailed for six years and nine months after admitting robbery but being cleared of murder.

Following a trial which ended last month, it emerged that one of the victim’s children telephoned the police after they witnessed the attack via CCTV in another part of the shop premises.

During his sentencing remarks, the judge told the defendants: “One of the most tragic aspects of this case is that Mr Tharmaseelan’s children were upstairs in the flat as these events were unfolding.

“It is not entirely clear how much they saw.

“Those poor children, or at least some of them, found their father dying immediately after the mindless violence to which he had been subjected.”

Ian Meenan, who stabbed Mr Tharmaseelan in the chest with a kitchen knife, was given a minimum term of 27 years before he can be considered for release, while John Meenan will serve at least 24 years.

Meanwhile, Ryan and Bayliss were given respective minimum terms of 21 and 20 years.

Ian and John Meenan, 27, 19-year-old Ryan, and Bayliss, 25, were found guilty of murder last month after CCTV footage of the offence was shown to jurors.

The men, all from the Erdington area of Birmingham, had admitted robbery at a previous hearing but denied murder.

Ian Meenan, of Short Heath Road; John Meenan, of Camberley Grove; Ryan and Bayliss, both of Gretton Road, were given differing minimum terms because of their varying roles in the robbery.

Moore, 25, of Twickenham Road, Kingstanding, did not go into Mr Tharmaseelan’s shop during the attempt to steal alcohol and cigarettes, which also saw a shop assistant punched and kicked.

The judge accepted that the plan to rob the shop was formulated only in the minutes before the raiders, who had been drinking in local pubs, entered the store.

But the judge added: “All four of you were intent on stealing cigarettes and alcohol and knew substantial force would be used if necessary.

“Within seconds of entry the violence began.

“I am quite satisfied that John Meenan, Liam Ryan and Anthony Bayliss realised at this point at the latest that Ian Meenan was carrying a knife and was prepared to use it.

“Mr Tharmaseelan was a brave man. When he was confronted by the four of you, he sought to defend himself and his property.”

The storekeeper, who picked up a baseball bat to try to ward of Ian Meenan, had done no more than was reasonable, the judge said.

In a victim impact statement read to the court at a previous hearing, Mr Tharmaseelan’s wife Sangeetha said her husband had built up his business in College Road after coming to Britain in 2005.

In her statement, Mrs Tharmaseelan said she was visiting relatives in France when her husband, who bled to death, was murdered.

The grieving mother, whose children are aged between four and 14, stated: “Since my return, I have spoken to my children, who were at the premises at the time.

“My children saw the attack on the CCTV camera and are extremely traumatised by what they saw.”

Mrs Tharmaseelan, who is originally from Sri Lanka, came to Britain with her husband after they met and married in France in 1995.

In her statement, the storekeeper’s widow added: “My husband was a hard-working man who had good business and money skills.

“He lived for a better life and worked long hours to support the family. The opportunity to run his own business filled him with joy.”

Commenting after the sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector Sab Johal, who led the investigation, said: “Suppiah was a decent family man who worked hard to earn a living.

“He was well known and liked in the local community and had run the shop for five years.

“The jail terms reflect the brutality used by the group in their attack on him and I hope today’s result offers some comfort to his family.” -  Mirror.co.uk