A TRIAL date has been set for three men accused of helping wife killer Danish Irfan escape the country after he committed the murder.

Nouman Qureshi, 32, who is Irfan's uncle, appeared today at Bradford Crown Court for a preliminary hearing alongside his two co-accused.

Qureshi, of Kashmir Park, Halifax, is jointly charged with Muhammed Qureshi, 38, of Pembroke Avenue, Luton, Bedfordshire, and 34-year-old Fasial Chaudhary, of Grantham Road, Ilford, Essex, with committing an act, or acts, intending to pervert the course of justice.

The charge alleges that between Saturday, November 3 and Tuesday, November 6 last year, at various locations in the UK, the three men assisted Irfan to leave the UK, knowing he had murdered his wife.

They will all next appear at a plea and case management hearing on November 21. Their trial is due to start on April 7 next year. Both of those hearings will be held at Bradford Crown Court.

All three were granted bail until their next appearance in court on November 21.

Nouman Qureshi, who was dressed in an open-necked light grey shirt and grey trousers, only spoke at yesterday's hearing to confirm his name, as did his two co-accused during the ten-minute appearance.

The case was transferred from Bradford and Keighley Magistrates' Court, where the three had appeared on August 27 this year.

Irfan, 22, was sentenced to life imprisonment, and must spend more than 15 years in jail, after he was convicted of murdering his wife, Ridda Zanab, 21, at their home in Alford Terrace, Lidget Green, Bradford.

In the frenzied attack, Irfan shattered his wife's skull with a claw hammer in a fit of jealous rage after he found out she loved another man.

But after her murder, Irfan flew from Heathrow Airport to Pakistan on a false passport in the name of Abdul Basit but later came back to the UK for his trial.

The court heard he struck her at least ten forceful blows with a claw hammer, leaving her unrecognisable.

The trial judge, Mr Justice Stuart-Smith, said it was a sustained and brutal attack on a defenceless woman laid in bed.

Irfan had admitted manslaughter, but denied murder, claiming loss of control, but was subsequently convicted by the jury in July this year.

The jury was told he had tried to make two phone calls within minutes of the murder. Shortly afterwards he left the marital home in a taxi, having changed his clothes.

Sentencing Irfan, who was described as having been in a "disastrous" marriage, the judge said he had shown remorse and some courage in voluntarily returning to the UK to face the criminal proceedings.