Somaiya Begum Murder Trial: Uncle to be sentenced tomorrow

A tangled web of arranged marriage refusal, family humiliation and hard-line attitudes began to unravel before jurors, who were warned they may hear Somaiya's horrific death described as an honour killing.

“Whatever it was… it was not honourable," prosecutor Jason Pitter KC told Bradford Crown Court.

The 20-year-old biomedical student had been killed by one of the people she should have been able to trust more than most - her uncle, Mohammed Taroos Khan.

The 53-year-old had protested his innocence during the 10-day trial, but the jury thought otherwise and decided he had, indeed, murdered his niece at  her home in Binnie Street, Barkerend, Bradford, on June 25 last year.

Khan, of Thornbury Road, Bradford, comitted the horrendous act on, or around, June 25 last year.

He had already admitted to perverting the course of justice by disposing of Somaiya's body between June 24 and June 27 last year and attempting to dispose of her phone by burning it.

There was no dispute that Miss Begum was murdered but Khan’s case was he was “summoned” to her home to get rid of her body.

But the jury in the trial reached a unanimous verdict today after almost nine-and-a-half hours spread over three days of deliberating that Khan had attacked his niece and intended to cause her serious harm or kill her.

Khan will be sentenced for murder at Bradford Crown Court tomorrow (Wednesday).

Miss Begum had a 10.7cm-long metal spike embedded in her back, which had penetrated her lung, when her body was found, and the court heard that strangulation was a possible cause of death.

There was blood found on a table in the living room of her home in Binnie Street, which was a DNA match for Miss Begum.

Khan turned up at the house in Binnie Street, where Miss Begum lived with her grandma and another uncle, at 3.22pm on June 25.

The 20-year-old had been living there after her dad, and Khan’s brother, Mohammed Yaseen Khan, was said to have tried to force her to marry her first cousin – a man she had never met – in Pakistan.

Miss Begum reported this to police and her father and her mum, Sabiyyah Begum, were subjected to a Forced Marriage Protection Order, with their daughter eventually moving to Binnie Street, where she was said to be “very happy”.

Khan was prohibited from visiting Binnie Street due to a restraining order made after he assaulted his daughter, Kynath Begum – who lived there for a time when it was Miss Begum’s home - by putting a knife to her throat and threatening to “chop her up” in 2016.

The court heard audio captured on CCTV footage from three doors up when Khan arrived on June 25, where it is said a male voice can be heard saying “get back”, before uttering “I’m making a legal” and then two seconds later, “get the f**k out of my face”.

The same male voice says “I’m coming back” 15 seconds later and the sound of running steps, according to Police Staff Investigator (PSI) James Malsbury.

He said moments later the male says “come back, come here”, which is overlapped by a female voice saying “nah, I’m not going”.

CCTV footage then shows Khan heading to the Timpson store at Morrisons, in Thornbury where he had two keys cut, before returning to Binnie Street at 3.50pm.

The same female voice from the first piece of audio can be heard saying “lock the door” at this point, according to PSI Malsbury.

Miss Begum’s Snapchat account was still active at 3.46pm that day but her last outgoing communication from her phone was at 3.54pm – a message sent on Tik Tok.

Khan leaves at around 4.33pm and after visiting Binnie Street a number of times again on June 25, he is seen the next day at around 7.50am getting into his car on the street with gloves on and driving down an alleyway at the back of the house.

The murderer then went to a car boot sale near Leeds-Bradford Airport before dumping Miss Begum’s body, rolled in carpet tied together with blue string, on secluded wasteland off Fitzwilliam Street at 6.50pm on June 26.

Miss Begum’s body was found 10 days later, heavily decomposed, with maggots infesting her face and neck.

PC Batty, who was one of the first on the scene, said the rug was around eight feet into the wasteland and had boxes of food waste and rubbish bags on top of it.

She added: "The smell hit me immediately, I peeled back the rug."

Zafar Ali KC, for the defence, said Khan’s actions and lies to police were consistent with him having dumped Miss Begum’s body.

He also said in his closing speech that the jury could not be sure whether anyone else was in the house on Binnie Street during the afternoon when Miss Begum was killed, as there is no CCTV footage covering people going in and out of the property.

Mr Ali also outlined that Khan disapproved of the forced marriage, had no issues with Miss Begum and, other than the assault of his daughter, had never been violent to his sisters like Yaseen Khan had.

He added: “Somaiya was innocent and defenceless, her death was needless and pointless.

“Her death as I said in my opening address to you is a tragedy in the true sense of the word.”