Young mother 'left dying in street with severed hand on husband's orders'

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The attack was so savage the right hand of Geeta Aulakh, 28, was severed as she tried to defend herself, the jury was told.

Her husband Harpreet Aulakh had offered £5,000 to other Punjabi men after she had started divorce proceedings, the court heard.

"His reaction displayed a chilling belief which was almost certainly culturally rooted in male unaccountability," Aftab Jafferjee QC, prosecuting, told the jury.

"How does a mere woman - as he and other like-minded accomplices viewed her - challenge that smug, chauvinistic mindset.

"You will see examples of breathtaking indifference to the need for secrecy in the preparatory stages of this crime which also involved the offer of £5,000 by Aulakh in a room of other Punjabi males."

Geeta was attacked outside the Greenford home of the childminder of her young children, the court heard.

Her killers lay in wait knowing exactly where and when to strike at her on her way home from working as a receptionist at Sunrise Radio.

"There were three of them but only one would, and did, hack her to death. So savage and determined was this mission to kill her that when she sought to protect her head with her hands her right hand was completely severed from her arm," said Mr Jafferjee.

Having organised the murder Aulakh sought an alibi by going to a pub with CCTV.

The marriage had been going through hard times and it was only the "stigma" of divorce proceedings which had allowed the marriage to "limp along".

But, said Mr Jafferjee: "She ultimately decided that she had a life that she wanted to lead, but away from him."

Aulakh, 35, of Greenford, Sher Singh, 19, of Southall, Harpreet Singh, 20, of Slough, and Jaswant Dhillon, 30 of Ilford, have all pleaded not guilty to murder in November last year.