Surinder Kaur Varyapraj

Surinder Kaur Varyapraj was found dead at her home on 5 March 1996.

She had been smothered and strangled with some sort of ligature.

In December 2018 it was reported that new DNA evidence had been found that could help the police trace her murderer.

It was thought that she had been lying dead at her home for weeks before her body was discovered.

The police were called after neighbours and a local shopkeeper had not seen her for four or five weeks. When they went to check on her they found a kitchen window smashed and then found her decomposed body in her bedroom. The police also found a chair outside the kitchen window.

She was last seen alive on 4 February 1996 when she swept snow from the alleyway at the rear of her home. It was reported that neighbours recalled hearing a brief high-pitched scream and banging noises just before midnight the following day.

She had also signed on at Handsworth Job Centre that same day.

During the police investigation a set of unidentified fingerprints were also found.

It was also reported that a watch was found to be missing and a picture of a similar watch was released by the police.

The watch was described by the police as being distinctive. A receipt for the watch was found, but the watch itself was missing. It had been an expensive black rotary watch and the police said that it could have been taken by her killer or she could have given it to someone before she was murdered and the police appealed for anyone that might have seen it to come forward.

The police said:

The watch was described as having had a black face with twelve sides (facets) and gold Roman numerals and a black snakeskin-style strap.

Her first post mortem examination proved inconclusive, but a second post mortem revealed that she had been strangled.

The police appealed for anyone that might have seen her in the weeks before her murder to come forward.

The police said:

Following the cold case review in 2018 the police said they had a DNA profile of the killer, which it was reported allowed them to eliminate a number of suspects. However, it was heard that the DNA profile didn't match anyone on the police database.

The police in 2018 appealed for information relating to an Asian man that had lived in the area and had owned a Jaguar XJS.

The police said:

Surinder Varyapraj had had three children, a boy aged 14 and two girls aged 15 and 12, but was divorced.

She was said to have suffered from a mental illness in the past and was known to talk to herself.

The police said that they thought that the answer to her murder lay within the local community.