THE JURY in a murder trial watched the moment an uncle is said to have dumped his niece’s body in a pile of rubbish on wasteland.

Mohammed Taroos Khan, 52, of Thornbury Road, Bradford, faces a charge of murder after the body of his niece Somaiya Begum, 20, of Binnie Street, Barkerend, Bradford was found on July 6 last year.

The 52-year-old denies unlawfully killing Miss Begum on, or around, June 25 last year but has admitted to disposing of her body.

The court witnessed footage on Friday of what the prosecution say is the moment Khan dumps his niece's body, wrapped in a rug, in secluded wasteland off Fitzwilliam Street, on the outskirts of Bradford city centre, just a day after she met a traumatic death.

CCTV footage at 6.48pm is described as showing Khan initially driving down the road, turning right onto Caledonian Street, before returning moments later from Mill Lane and parking up near a wooded area at the side of Fitzwilliam Street.

Tom Storey, junior counsel for the prosecution, said the clip's description states Khan exits his silver Mitsubishi Space Wagon, opens the rear-side passenger door and pulls something “long and light coloured” out.

This, the prosecution say, is a rug with Miss Begum’s body wrapped inside.

Part of the item looks to fall to the floor from the car as Khan drags it into the treeline and out of sight, the court heard.

Khan then returns to his vehicle, no longer with anything in his hand, before driving off, according to the prosecution 

Mr Storey said: “If it isn't obvious, this is what the prosecution say is the deposition of the body.”

Just a few minutes after this – at 6.54pm – Dawoos Khan, another uncle of Miss Begum’s who she lived with at Binnie Street alongside her grandma, unsuccessfully attempted to call his niece – one of many he made to her phone in an attempt to find out where she was.

The jury heard earlier in the trial, during the prosecution’s opening statement on Wednesday, that Miss Begum’s heavily decomposed body was found wrapped in a rug that was tied together with string.

Body-cam footage from one of the police officers to discover Miss Begum’s remains was shown to the court on Friday.

This was accompanied by a witness statement from that officer, PC Batty, read out by Mr Storey. 

PC Batty was tasked with attending Fitzwilliam Street to search an area for a high-risk missing person - Miss Begum.

The officer arrived at 7.15pm on July 6 and was advised to look for a hole in the wall – she found a gap opposite Desi Catering and went into the area which was a wasteland of foliage and fly-tipping, the court heard.

PC Batty said: "I had seen copious amounts of rubbish that had appeared to be dumped, it was covered in overgrown shrubbery and appeared to be secluded beyond the hole."

Another officer pointed out a rug with blue string tied around it and a lot of flies circulating. 

PC Batty’s statement said the item – which was around eight feet into the wasteland and had boxes of food waste and rubbish bags on top of it - was noticeable because the blue string looked clean.

This was when the officer peeled back part of the rug and made the discovery.

Dr Kirsten Hope, a Home Office Forensic Pathologist, told the court yesterday that she was unable to ascertain a cause of death during her post-mortem due to the state of decomposition.

But she determined that Miss Begum had been killed and ruled out death by natural causes or disease.

She also found a 10.7cm-long metal spike which was embedded in Miss Begum’s back and had penetrated her lung and said that strangulation was a possibility.

Khan has pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice, in that between June 24 and June 27 last year he disposed of Miss Begum’s body and attempted to dispose of the phone belonging to her by burning it.

The trial continues.