Husband secretly fed wife steroids so she would pile on weight and stay at home to look after the children

Jaspreet Singh Gill sprouted hair on her chin, cheeks and back after her husband laced her food and drink with drugs



Dalwara Singh was given a suspended 12-month jail sentence and ordered to attend a domestic abuse programme

Their teenage daughter told her mother she heard her father grinding a pestle and mortar in the bedroom

Jealous: Dalwara Singh slipped steroids into his wife's dinners and drinks, causing her to break out in spots and grow hair all over her body

A controlling and jealous husband secretly fed his wife steroids so she would pile on weight and be forced to stay at home and look after their children.



Victim Jaspreet Singh Gill sprouted hair on her chin, cheeks and back because Dalwara Singh was lacing her food and drink with the drugs, Leicester Crown Court heard.



The mother of two also developed spotty, constantly itchy skin and some scalp hair fell out, but her husband of 17 years told her not to go to the doctor.



When she complained that the food he suddenly starting preparing for her tasted bitter, because of the steroids, Mr Singh made her eat it out of guilt, saying he had made it especially for her.



Their teenage daughter told her mother she heard her father grinding a pestle and mortar in the bedroom.



Mrs Singh broke into a locked cupboard and found the anabolic steroids, Anapolon and Dianabol, and called the police.



Singh, a food factory production manager, of Empire Road, Leicester, admitted administering a poison or noxious substance with intent to injure, aggrieve or annoy, between November last year and January this year.

He avoided jail and was given a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, with supervision, and ordered to attend a domestic abuse programme.



Sentencing him, Judge Ebraham Mooncey said: 'You've escaped prison by the skin of your teeth.



'Over a period of weeks you secreted steroids designed for athletes to gain muscles and put it into your wife's food and drink.



'You say you didn't want to hurt her but just wanted her to gain weight. You stood by and watched the effects it had on your wife.



Lucky: Judge Ebraham Mooncey told Dalwara Singh that he narrowly avoided jail because of his actions

'You may have been doing it to make her give up her job, gain weight and stay indoors - and make her want you and rely on you.



'It was a well-planned exercise and you say you gave her the steroids at least four or five times.



'She trusted you. It's had a terrible effect on her, causing long-term emotional harm.'



Caroline Bray, prosecuting, said: 'They were married for 17 years and have a son and daughter, aged 15 and 16.



'It doesn't look to have been a happy marriage and he'd been verbally and physically abusive in the past.



'She felt controlled by him.



'Early in the marriage she didn't enjoy normal freedoms like getting a job, socialising and couldn't choose what she wore.



'He constantly accused her of infidelity and having affairs.'



Mrs Singh had considered that her husband was trying to sabotage her attempt to lose weight and in December last year he gave her a larger dose, in wine, causing swelling and severe pain to her nose which made her think she had the flu.



After a row the next day, she claimed Singh said: 'You should have died yesterday, but you didn't' and in a later police interview, Singh said: 'I just wanted her to gain weight.'



David Martin-Sperry, mitigating, said: 'It's a truly bizarre case.



'He's deeply embarrassed and appalled, ashamed and bitterly regrets it.



'He did it so she'd gain weight to get back to the pattern of their life, so she'd cook dinner and look after the children, so she wouldn't go out for walks to lose weight.

Strange: Leicester Crown Court, pictured, heard that Singh was ashamed of what he had done

'There are some jurisdictions for example where a woman isn't allowed to have a driving licence or an education. They are concepts taking us back to the Dark Ages.



'Yes, he was controlling in the relationship and however much you may disapprove it as a way to conduct affairs in modern Britain, it's something that exists in some parts of some communities.



'I'm not an apologist for it, but it's not in itself against the law.'



Singh was made the subject of a restraining order, banning contact with his estranged wife, other than through solicitors or social services, or visiting her address.

