Martial arts expert who choked British dad to death living back home
Fugitive killer now a free man: Martial arts expert who choked British father to death in rage over his opera singing in luxury Thai hotel is living back home in Norway after four years on the run
- EXCLUSIVE: Roger Bullman, 58, cheated justice by jumping bail in 2019 before he could stand trial
- Bullman killed British IT expert Amitpal Singh Bajaj, 34, in his Phuket hotel room on August 21 2019
- MailOnline can now reveal details of the Norwegian killer’s bid to evade justice
A martial arts expert who is believed to have choked a British father to death in a luxury hotel in Thailand after a row over his opera singing has evaded prosecution in Thailand and is enjoying his freedom in Norway after nearly four years on the run, MailOnline can reveal.
Roger Bullman, 58, cheated justice by jumping bail in 2019 before he could stand trial for the murder of Amitpal Singh Bajaj, 34, in an early hours row on the holiday island of Phuket.
The horrific incident happened after Mr Bajaj who was with his wife and 20-month-old son heard Bullman singing and yodelling in the room next door and then ranting at his girlfriend for four hours.
Heavily-tattooed Bullman burst into the family’s room through a balcony door at 4am and strangled Mr Bajaj in a chokehold as his victim tried to defend himself with a flimsy butter knife.
He was held by police and allegedly admitted killing the London-born IT consultant, but he was incredibly given bail and fled before a court appearance.
Bullman, a bodybuilding former soldier, was at the centre of a worldwide manhunt as he initially stayed in Cambodia and Laos before hiding in Vietnam for more than three years.
Now MailOnline can reveal the extraordinary details of the Norwegian killer’s bid to evade justice and back to Norway last month using another man’s passport – despite being on an Interpol ‘red notice’ list to alert police forces around the world that he was on the run.
Amitpal Singh Bajaj (pictured with his wife Bandhna) was brutally beaten to death in his hotel room in Phuket in 2019 after getting into a row with Bullman in the next room over his singing
Mrs Bajaj has previously told how her husband died a hero when he fought off the naked stranger who got into their room – and saved her life and that of their two-year-old son, Veer
This is Roger Bullman on his journey back to the UK, pictured in June of this year
MailOnline can reveal the extraordinary details of the Norwegian killer’s bid to evade justice – despite being on an Interpol ‘red notice’ list
Bullman (pictured) and his lover Elvira had flown to Phuket from Oslo via Bangkok on August 17 on a two-week package holiday. His wife told police she slept through the whole incident
He is said to have enlisted the help of Vietnamese gangsters and used an inheritance from his late mother to pay for his flights to freedom.
Bullman who is now using the name Kurt Harald Hansen presented himself to local police on his arrival in Oslo and revealed that he was wanted in Thailand.
Incredibly he was not held in custody and was allowed to leave after giving officers an address where he is staying in Norway.
His lawyer is now insisting that he cannot now be sent back to Thailand to stand trial for the murder of Mr Bajaj because there is no extradition treaty.
But if police in Norway decide there is strong enough evidence to charge him over Mr Bajaj’s death, he could stand trial in his home country.
If convicted, he would then potentially serve time in a Norwegian prison instead of having to endure a potentially longer sentence in a far tougher jail in Thailand.
His arrival in Norway after his years of freedom in south east Asia has allowed him to be reunited with his daughter.
But it is said to has sickened relatives of Mr Baja who grew up in London, but lived in Singapore before his death.
Bullman, a Norwegian martial arts expert, is pictured by a Thai police officer in the hotel after being stabbed in the shoulder with a butter knife during the scuffle with his victim Mr Bajaj
Bullman killed Mr Bajaj by putting him a choke hold during a melee as his victim stabbed him with a butter knife. Bullman then dragged him on to a walkway in front of their rooms (above)
Police in Thailand searched the room where the British father – who was on holiday celebrating his tenth wedding anniversary – died from his injuries
Sketch shows the rooms, balconies and where Mr Bajaj was found on a walkway outside his room
A source close to the family in Southall, west London, said: ‘We are shocked that he has escaped and remained free for so long.
‘I am not confident that he will ever face a murder charge now. Interpol and the Thai police have a lot of questions to answer as to how Bullman is free in Oslo. This is just terrible.’
Bullman’s lawyer John Christian Elden believes Thai police will no longer be interested in pursuing a case against him, and would see it as a task Scotland Yard or authorities in Norway.
Mr Elden told MailOnline told how Bullman had reported to police on arrival at Gardermoen Airport in Oslo to avoid being taken into custody.
He said: ‘He wanted to give an explanation to the police and wanted the police to investigate this case.
‘He wanted to tell them that he was not a flight risk as he had just come home. There should not be a risk that he will be arrested at this time.
‘But the police (in Norway) will get all the documents from Thailand and Scotland Yard as there must be some documents in England as well. Then they will open a case in Norway and investigate.’
READ MORE: Opera-singing bodybuilder on the run after brutal killing of British father in Thailand is FOUND – and says he will face justice… if it’s at home in Norway
He said Bullman could be charged in Norway if there was sufficient evidence, although he was claiming that he acted in self-defence.
But he added: ‘His explanation is that this was a struggle between the two of them and he (Mr Bajaj) died during the struggle and that he was attacked’.
Mr Elden said: ‘The police will investigate and if they believe him in that or if they can’t prove that it is not true, then they will have to close down the case.
‘The English police and the Norwegian police will have to co-operate in some kind of way to see how to deal with it.
‘I think Thailand doesn’t have very much interest in the case and will just be happy to send all the papers here and to keep the problem in England or Norway.
‘I don’t think Thailand will make any kind of arguments like asking for him to be extradited back.’
Mr Elden said he expected Bullman to receive a sentence of ‘between ten and 12 years’ if charged and convicted in Norway.
He added: ‘He just doesn’t want to be in a Thai jail’.
The burly 6ft 2ins tall bodybuilder is said to have killed Mr Bajaj when they were staying in neighbouring rooms at the at the five star Centara Grand Hotel in Karon, Phuket.
Police in Thailand said the Norwegian was singing opera on his balcony up until 4am on August 21, 2019, although Mrs Bajaj insisted that she only heard swearing and shouting which kept her and her husband awake.
Mrs Bajaj called security second before Bullman who was on holiday with his girlfriend burst naked into their third floor room and began grappling with her husband.
She fled with their toddler son Veer after her husband urged her to escape, telling her: ‘Go, go, go’.
Mr Bajaj’s widow Bandhna did not want to talk to MailOnline about her feelings this week
She heard him screaming for his life when she reached the ground floor to seek help.
Bullman who had been drinking dragged Mr Bajaj into a corridor where hotel staff found the pair. Mr Bajaj was lying lifeless with Bullman’s arm still gripped around his neck.
It later emerged that Mr Bajaj had picked up a thin metal butter knife and stabbed Bullman in the shoulder, bending the blade in half during the struggle.
Bullman admitted killing Mr Bajaj when interviewed by police and was told he was facing a manslaughter charge.
He was freed on bail and was due to attend Phuket Provincial Court to discuss possible bail arrangements before a potential trial.
But he failed to attend and MailOnline found him sunning himself beside a pool at the Ikon Hotel in Karon when he should have been in court.
A warrant was issued for his arrest, but he disappeared before he could be detained. It later emerged that his manslaughter charge had been upgraded to murder.
Bullman reportedly ended up hiding for 23 hours a day in a tiny flat at Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, telling friends in Oslo that he would only venture out for an hour each night to avoid being detected.
Suffering poor health, including a stomach ulcer and dental problems, he allegedly made contact with Vietnamese gangsters who had connections on Norway and offered to help get him home.
Bullman reportedly ended up being held ‘hostage’ by the gangsters who threatened to hand him over to police unless they were paid a ransom.
Bullman was released on bail by police in Thailand 12 hours after the killing. Here he is pictured relaxing in a hotel swimming pool just before vanishing
This is the holiday home in Skjeberg which was sold and funded Roger Bullman’s journey back to Norway
Sources said Bullman kept in touch with friends in Norway by using the secure phone app ‘Signal’ and begged them to help get him back
After two months, he claims, he was released and made three separate attempts to receive a false passport to allow him to leave, visiting Norwegian consulates.
Sources said he kept in touch with friends in Norway by using the secure phone app ‘Signal’ and begged them to help get him back.
He also received money from the estate of his mother Turid Hansen who died aged 79 in April 2021. The inheritance included £125,000 from the sale of his mother’s holiday home in Skjeberg, south east of Oslo.
Describing his time in Vietnam, a friend said: ‘He would speak to his daughter on the phone app and she would beg him to give himself up to the police and then come home. Being a child, she didn’t understand the problems and just wanted her father home.
‘The Covid-19 pandemic was good for Roger. There were huge enforcements to ensure people stayed indoors in Ho Chi Minh, so it fitted in with his lifestyle.
‘When he went out, which was rare, he could cover his face with a mask like everyone else.
But it also meant that he was lucky that food would be delivered free to his door because of the lockdown.
Roger Bullman went on the run after killing Amitpal Singh Bajaj in Thailand
‘His landlord saw that his passport wasn’t correct and asked him several times to report to the police, but he ignored it as he was very scared that he would be caught.’
Bullman allegedly flew home after being given a Norwegian passport in the name of a man who was 23 years his junior.
He disguised himself on his journey with a face mask, giving the impression he was still concerned about Covid, and long shirt sleeves covering his distinctive tattoos stretching from his left shoulder to beyond his elbow.
Crucially, the illicit passport he was given had an entry stamp into Vietnam so it could stamped with an exit visa for his flight from Hanoi to Paris.
Bullman passed through security checks, despite the passport picture showing a a man many years his junior.
But his return to Norway was almost derailed on the last leg of his journey by electronic passport security systems at Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris
Sources said he realised his best chance of evading capture was to have his passport manually checked and to avoid electronic scanners which transmit passenger photos onto screens.
He was apparently warned by his backers to wear a face mask until being asked to lower it at the last moment and to ensure he arrived in the early hours as night shift staff might be tired.
Bullman’s passport was initially rejected by one scanner because his features did not match, and he was directed to a manual passport desk.
The source claimed he was then waived through because the woman and a policeman on the desk were ‘flirting’ and not paying proper attention, allowing him to board a Norwegian Air flight to Oslo.
Bullman declined to be interviewed by MailOnline in Olso, but he told podcasters Avhort of his shame at killing Mr Bajaj.
He said: ‘May I first be allowed to offer my condolences to the family and tell them how sorry I am.
‘I am very ashamed, and it should never have happened that a little boy should lose his father and a young woman has become a widow because of me.
The Centara Grand Beach Resort Phuket, where the horror incident had place in 2019
Image shows the fruit knife supplied by the hotel to cut Guava fruit which Mr Bajaj used to try and fend off Bullman with a backward stabbing motion as he was being choked
‘Sometimes I damn well wish it was me, so I wouldn’t have to deal with this. I see that man (Mr Bajaj) as some kind of hero. I think he tried to protect his little family, which I didn’t even know was there.
‘I think he wanted to put an end to my screaming and my behaviour. If I could ever talk to that little boy, I would explain to him that his dad was a hero who tried to save you and your mother.’
He gave an exclusive interview to MailOnline the day after he was given bail in Thailand, saying: ‘Adrenalin took me over.’
Bullman added: ‘I didn’t want to kill him. I didn’t know he was dead until the police told me he had died in hospital.’
‘I have worked with psychiatric patients for 14 years and that is how you must restrain them (choke hold).’
Recalling the night of the killing, he said: ‘I was with my girlfriend and we were happy that night.
‘I am not a monster. I have a nine-year-old daughter who I may not see again for a long time.’
He added: ‘I am going to jail for between three and ten years and at my age of 54 it is not going to be easy. They make it tougher for you, the other guys, if you are older.
‘I am lost. My girlfriend has gone home and I am alone here.’
Mr Bajaj’s widow Bandhna did not want to talk to MailOnline about her feelings this week.
But in her only interview, given to MailOnline in Singapore in 2019, she heaped praise on her husband, saying he wanted his courage to be recognised against Bullman’s brutality.
This is the block of apartments where Bullman used to live
Bullman (pictured in June this year) declined to be interviewed by MailOnline in Olso, but he told podcasters Avhort of his shame at killing Mr Bajaj
Bullman (pictured) allegedly flew home after being given a Norwegian passport in the name of a man who was 23 years his junior
She said: ‘When I saw Amitpal protect me and my son like that, I think I have never loved him as much as I loved him at that moment.
‘I don’t think everyone could do what he did. I don’t think I could have done that.
‘The fact that he gave me time to run with our son, shows that he put our lives before his.
‘I have a lot of respect for him because even in our (Sikh) religion we are taught to have courage and be selfless. But to actually act upon it is a different thing.
‘My husband named my son Veer which means strength and he always wanted him to be a warrior with his mind.
‘He said. “If you are strong in your mind you will be strong in your life” so I will always remind Veer of that. ‘
Mrs Bajaj said they had been scared by Bullman’s aggressive shouting and swearing which went on from midnight for over four hours from the room next door
She recalled how she and her husband met at a mutual friend’s wedding in Singapore when she was a student in Sydney, and ‘clicked’ straight away.
They became friends and had a long distance romance with him living in the UK and her in Australia before getting engaged three years after they met when she was aged 21
The couple initially lived in Southall for six years and shuttled between Malaysia and Singapore for his IT consultancy work, before they moved to be with her family in Singapore.
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