BRIGHT, popular and harbouring big dreams for her future, Shafilea Ahmed was desperate for a life like any other teenage girl.
Instead, she was cruelly betrayed by her monstrous parents, who murdered their 17-year-old daughter in a merciless ‘honour killing’ after she was driven to a suicide attempt over an arranged marriage.
PAShafilea Ahmed was a 17-year-old girl from Warrington[/caption]
Neil Jones – The SunThe teenager was brutally murdered by her own parents, Farzana and Iftikhar[/caption]
AlamySuperintendent Gairant Jones was in charge of looking for the teen when she was reported missing[/caption]
Now, the heartbreaking story of the eight-year quest to bring the killer pair to justice will air in a new ITV documentary A Murder Without Honour.
Superintendent Gairant Jones, senior investigating officer for Cheshire police, had been searching for the teenager for five months before a body was discovered in undergrowth near the River Kent in Cumbria.
Shafilea, a budding lawyer from Warrington, had not been seen since September 11, although it was her teachers who reported her missing a week later.
Her body was discovered on Feb 18, 2004, hidden by thick undergrowth which had grown over her remains. Police believed she was killed somewhere else.
After the decomposed, dismembered remains were identified by dental records and later DNA, the investigations into what happened revealed a life of torment, abuse and control at the hands of the very people who were meant to protect her – her parents.
The investigating officer visited Farzana and Iftikhar Ahmed to break the news and was shocked at their reaction.
Spt Jones said: “They were almost dismissive. I told them DNA results would confirm the identity but that dental records matched, and they told me to come back when I was 100 per cent sure.
He said: “I’d never come across a family like this before. You can come across a murder in a domestic setting, where the extended family and those close would be traumatised, there was a lack of emotional attachment, a complete lack of attachment to Shafilea, which was striking.
“There was no love there, at all. When Shafilea first disappeared, it was played down.”
The family lived in a predominantly white community in Warrington, and Shafilea had a large network of close friends, but it soon became clear her parents did not want her to live a ‘Western life’.
Spt Jones said: “She was bright, happy, outgoing. She was 17. She wanted to become a lawyer.
“As we investigated the Shafilea case it became apparent that this was very complicated, and honour and shame and issues around that were very apparent.”
‘Lack of urgency’
PA:Press AssociationShafilea’s parents did not report her missing – it was her teachers who did[/caption]
Iftikhar and his wife drugged Shafilea and flew her to Pakistan to marry her off
PA:Press AssociationFarzana shed crocodile tears during a press conference regarding the disappearance of her daughter[/caption]
Soon after the girl’s disappearance, Cheshire police enlisted the help of Professor of Criminology at Roehampton University, Aisha Gill.
She specialises in violence against women and girls in black and racially minoritised communities and advised on cultural issues around the investigation.
The Islamic family lived in Warrington in a predominantly white community.
Prof Gill said: “Her parents did not report the disappearance of their daughter. It was her teachers who reported the disappearance, on September 18 – that’s over a week.
“The most disturbing thing for me was a lack of curiosity about what happened to their daughter. The lack of urgency in terms of getting answers and in terms of what happened to Shafilea.
“Shafilea was a young, bright, intelligent, aspirational individual. Shafilea had confided in her close network of friends and her teachers about the abuse she had been subjected to by both her parents.”
Shafilea also confided in social services that her parents planned to take her to their home country of Pakistan and force her to marry.
Prof Gill said that when Shafilea was 14 or 15 and started to show an interest in boys, her parents had become stricter, and “tried to control her whole life”.
They took her out of school and locked her in her room to ‘teach her a lesson’.
Honour killings in the UK
AN honour killing is the murder of a family member, often a woman, by relatives who believe the victim has brought shame on their family by defying cultural, social, or religious norms.
Banaz Mahmod (2006): A 20-year-old Iraqi Kurdish woman from London, Banaz was killed by her father, uncle, and cousins for leaving an abusive arranged marriage and starting a relationship deemed inappropriate by her family. Despite reporting threats to the police, she was murdered and buried in a suitcase in Birmingham. Several family members were convicted for their roles in her death.
Rukhsana Naz (1998): At 19, Rukhsana from Derby was forced into marriage at 15 and later became pregnant by another man. Her refusal to terminate the pregnancy led her mother and brother to strangle her. Both were convicted of her murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Tulay Goren (1999): A 15-year-old Kurdish girl from North London, Tulay was killed by her father for her relationship with a man outside their faith. Her body was never found, but her father was convicted of her murder in 2009 and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Samaira Nazir (2005): A 25-year-old Pakistani woman from Southall, London, Samaira was murdered by her brother and cousin for rejecting an arranged marriage and choosing her own partner. Both were convicted and received life sentences.
Laura Wilson (2010): At 17, Laura from Rotherham was believed to be the first white victim of an honour killing in the UK. She was murdered by her Asian boyfriend after revealing their relationship to his family, challenging cultural values. He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Rania Alayed (2013): A 25-year-old Syrian-born woman from Manchester, Rania was killed by her husband for becoming “too Westernised” and seeking independence. Her body was never found, but her husband was convicted of her murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Surjit Athwal (1998): Surjit Kaur Athwal, a 27-year-old British-Indian woman from London, was murdered in December 1998 after being lured to India by her mother-in-law, Bachan Athwal, and her husband, Sukhdave Singh Athwal. Surjit had been seeking a divorce and was perceived as bringing dishonour to the family. Once in India, she was killed, and her body was never recovered. Both Bachan and Sukhdave were convicted in the UK in 2007 and sentenced to life imprisonment.
On February 18, 2003, her parents drugged her and flew her to Pakistan, to force her to marry, against her will.
Once there, Shafilea attempted suicide by drinking bleach,
and the wedding did not happen.
When she came home Shafilea admitted herself to Warrington Hospital and spent eight weeks there being treated for injuries to her throat.
The Ahmeds had four daughters and a son, but much of their abuse and anger was taken out on the girls, especially the eldest child Shafilea.
Despite all the evidence the police collated, The Crown Prosecution Service took a year to decide that the parents could not be charged as there was not enough evidence to secure a conviction.
Brutal murder
Shafilea was suffocated by her parents who did not want her to become ‘Westernised’PA:Press Association
PA:Press AssociationPolice combed through the area where Shafilea’s body was found to gather evidence[/caption]
AlamyDuring her trial, Farzana tried to tell the court she had nothing to do with her daughter’s murder[/caption]
The breakthrough the police needed came in 2010 after Shafilea’s sister Alesha was arrested for arranging a robbery at her parents’ house.
During the police interview, she asked for the recording to be stopped so she could tell them what happened to her sister.
Alesha told how Farzana had collected Shafilea from work and was angry that she was wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt, exposing her arms, and once she was home both parents berated her for her ‘behaviour’.
In the living room Farzana took Shafilea’s handbag and gave it to her only son, before Shafilea was pushed down on to the sofa.
Ferzana said to her husband: “Let’s finish it here.”
A plastic bag was shoved into Shafilea’s mouth, and she was left gasping for breath.
Her sister described how Iftikhar thumped her on her chest to see if there was a reaction, making sure his daughter was dead.
Alesha told how that night she saw her father carrying ‘a bundle’ wrapped in a carpet out to his car, and she knew then that was Shafilea’s body.
The next day she asked her parents where Shafilea was, despite having witnessed her cold-blooded murder.
She was told that if she said anything she would come to
the same fate.
The Ahmeds were arrested in September 2011, eight years after slaughtering their daughter, and denied murder.
During the subsequent trial, Farzana changed her story and read a statement claiming that she had nothing to do with killing her daughter and that Iftikhar had killed her.
She claimed he had threatened she would meet the same fate if she told anyone.
But the jury didn’t fall for her lies. They gave a unanimous verdict finding both parents guilty of the murder of Shafilea.
In August 2012, almost nine years since she disappeared, the judge handed Farzana and taxi driver Iftikhar Ahmed life sentences with a minimum term of 25 years.
Spt Jones said “I didn’t feel a sense of joy, I couldn’t say that. Just relief and thankful they’d been convicted.
“I was finally able to say my bit in front of the cameras and in front of the media and say what a vile murder this was, and that’s what I called it, following what the coroner had called it, a vile murder, and welcoming their conviction.”
A Murder Without Honour, Murder: First on the Scene is on ITV1 tonight at 9pm
PA:Press AssociationIftikhar being led away in cuffs[/caption]
AlamyIftikhar was seen on camera shedding tears at his daughter’s funeral[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
