Not honour killing – a clear case of murder

IFTIKHAR and Farzana Ahmed, the parents of tragic Warrington schoolgirl Shafilea, have both been jailed for life after being found guilty of her murder.
Mr Justice Roderick Evans, sentencing them to a minimum of 25 years each at Chester Crown Court, told them: : “Your concern about being shamed in your community was greater than the love of your child.”
And the detective who led the nine year investigation into the case, Detective Supt Geraint Jones, said after the hearing: “For me, this is not an honour killing – it’s a clear case of murder.”
He added:: “This was a vile and disgraceful act against someone they should have been very proud of.”
The 17-year-old Great Sankey High School pupil (right) disappeared from her home in Liverpool Road, Great Sankey in 2003 and, six months later, her body was found on the banks of the River Kent in Cumbria.
Her parents, Iftikhar, aged 52 and Farzana Ahmet, 49, always denied any involvement in her disappearance or death.
They both pleaded not guilty to murder – but the jury convicted both of them.
The prosecution alleged they had suffocated her with a plastic bag because they believed she had brought shame on the family.
It was, they alleged, an “honour killing.”
During the three month trial conflicting evidence emerged.
Shafilea’s sister Alesha, now 23, claimed her parents pushed her on to the settee in their house and she heard her mother say “just finish it here”. They then forced the plastic bag into her mouth and killed her in front of their other children.
Iftikhar (left) said Shafilea ran away from home during the night and he never saw her again. At first, Farzana supported his story – but later changed her account and said she saw her husband beat Shafilea on the night she disappeared.
She also claimed he threatened to beat her and their other children if she ever asked him what had happened to Shafilea.
When the verdict was announced, other members of the family broke down in tears in court.
Her mother wiped tears from her face, but her father appeared unmoved.
During the trial, the jury had been told Shafilea was a “westernised” girl, torn between family loyalty and wanting to be a normal teenager. She wanted to wear modern fashions and did not want an “arranged marriage.”
Shortly before her disappearance, Shafilea had been on a holiday to Pakistan, where she suffered serious injury through swallowing bleach, apparently as a cry for help.