Man found guilty of murdering brother at family chip shop in Bishop Auckland

A man has been found guilty of murdering his brother after stabbing him to death inside a chip shop.

Jasreet Klare bled to death after being attacked in their family fish and chip restaurant in Bishop Auckland, County Durham.

His brother Inderjit Klare, 43, has been jailed after being found guilty of his murder.

The former pharmacist repeatedly stabbed his 40-year-old brother, who was known to his friends and family as Jas, with a kitchen knife during the early hours of 9 October last year.

Klare, of Eve Lane, Spennymoor, had denied murder and claimed self-defence.

He was found guilty by a jury on Friday 21 April.

The court had previously been told Klare and his brother had a "volatile" relationship and Jas had been ostracised by his family as he had left his wife and was living with a new partner.

On the day before the murder, the brothers had been socialising together and had been drinking and taking cocaine, ending up in the family restaurant - Carter's Fish Restaurant and Takeaway, in Tenters Street - for another drink.

An argument ensued and Klare picked up a kitchen knife and attacked his brother.

Two men who were also there tried to intervene but became frightened and escaped the scene by smashing a window.

After Klare repeatedly stabbed his brother in a "prolonged attack", he did not immediately call an ambulance but made an attempt to clean the scene, destroying evidence.

In a victim impact statement, Jas' fiancée Emma described him as her "soul mate" and said their daughter had lost her "hero" while their son would never remember their father.

She added: "My children have lost their dad. My daughter has lost her hero, the dad she looked up to and taught her right from wrong.

"All she wants is her daddy.

"Our baby boy was eight-months-old when Jas was taken from him. He won't ever know him or know what kind of father he was. Jas was so excited about the baby but he missed his first Christmas, his first tooth and crawling for the first time."

The court heard his partner's two other children from a previous relationship had also struggled since his death .

"I start the day crying and I end the day crying", she said. "That day will stay with me for the rest of my life."

David Lamb, mitigating, said Klare had not pre-meditated the attack and had intended to cause him serious bodily harm, rather than to kill him.

Describing it as a tragedy, Mr Lamb added: "He will have to live with the consequences of his actions for the rest of his life, as indeed will his parents.

"They have lost a son. They have also lost this defendant for a considerable amount of time."

Judge Howard Crowson, sitting at Teesside Crown Court, handed Klare a life sentence and told him he will serve a minimum term of 19 years.

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