Teenager admits planning shop raid days before killing
A teenager has admitted plotting to rob a Huddersfield store two days before the 63-year-old shopkeeper was killed in a separate incident.
Spencer Julien, 18, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to robbery when he appeared at Huddersfield Youth Court on Monday.
He will be sentenced on 27 September over the robbery at Cowcliffe Convenience Stores on 18 February.
Two days later shopkeeper Gurmail Singh was attacked in the shop and died the next day from head injuries.
The two incidents were not connected.
Punched in face
The trial is due to begin next Wednesday of two 20-year-old men and three 17-year-old boys charged with the murder of Mr Singh and robbery.
Julien, of North Rise, Fartown, was 17 when he planned with another 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, to steal from Mr Singh, Huddersfield Youth Court heard on Monday.
In April, the 17-year-old was given a six-month detention order after admitting robbery.
Magistrates were told that police received a call from Mr Singh shortly before 2000 GMT on 18 February.
He reported that two males wearing gloves and hooded jackets had been in his store and fought with him before stealing cigarettes and fleeing.
Mr Singh told police he was punched in the face during the incident, in which £30 of goods were stolen, and £250 of damage was caused to the shop till.