A man allegedly murdered by his drug addict son was “withdrawn, upset and unhappy” in the weeks before he died, a jury at Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.

Phillip Tajinder Badwal, 25, is on trial denying the murder of 59-year-old Santokh ‘Charlie’ Singh on November 30, 2020.

Badwal is accused of beating and kicking his father to death in a “savage and sustained” attack with a cricket bat and shod feet at the family home in Airedale Road, Undercliffe, Bradford.

The jury was told this afternoon that he had pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

The court heard that Mr Singh sustained serious injuries to his chest, extensive rib fractures, a fractured sternum and multiple skull fractures. His jaw was broken and his nasal bone shattered. One leg had a broken tibia and fibula.

He had survived for half an hour after the attack began, Prosecutor Richard Wright QC said.

The police found a heavily bloodstained cricket bat in a neighbour’s back garden with DNA on it that matched Mr Singh’s, the jury was told.

A metal dog bowl was dented and bloodstained and Badwal had also used his shod feet in the assault, it is alleged. His trainers had his father’s blood and skin on them from when he was kicked and stamped on, Mr Wright said.

Badwal had changed his shoes during the attack, the jury heard. Another pair of trainers recovered from the house also had Mr Singh’s blood on them.

He lied to the police and then exercised his right not to answer questions, Mr Wright said.

He gave a prepared statement saying he denied murder. He said he had found his father lying injured in the house and tried to help him. When he couldn’t wake him, he called an ambulance.

“The prosecution says that this is not a case of manslaughter, it’s a case of murder,” Mr Wright told the jury.

The first witness in the trial, Mr Singh’s son, Richard, said his father worked as an engineer for many years.

He was happy and very social and they used to meet up in the pub.

Richard Singh said he had no relationship with his two younger half-brothers.

He said he went to his father’s home in the weeks before his death and saw him asleep on the sofa. There was no TV or stereo in the house and the internal doors had huge holes in them.

His father looked “tired and worn out,” Mr Singh said.

He told the court his father wanted to move out of the address. He said Phillip bullied him and swore at him.

On the day before he died, Mr Singh celebrated his 59th birthday. He went to look at a flat in Shipley he wanted to move into and his two older sons gave him gifts of money, a hip flask and Jack Daniels whiskey.

Charles Singh, the eldest of Mr Singh’s sons, said his father used to be a happy man with a decent job. He raised money for charity and he had a car and everything he wanted.

When he and Richard regained contact with their father a few weeks before his death he was skinny and unemployed.

Charles Singh said his father was happy, cheerful and uninjured when he last saw him the night before he died.

The trial continues.