A 28-year-old man who killed his girlfriend in a shooting three years ago has been jailed for seven years for her manslaughter.

Jahanzad Khan Ismail had been showing off with the Browning 9mm semi-automatic he had just bought when it unexpectedly went off, instantly killing 26-year-old Nighat Sultana Afzal.

Bradford Crown Court heard how Ismail had ignored pleas to stop messing about with the weapon and aimed it at his girlfriend's head, pulling the trigger. Prosecutor Peter Benson said the gun discharged at very close range and the bullet entered Miss Afzal's right temple. The bullet went through her brain and ended up embedded in the bedhead.

Following the shooting at the home of Miss Afzal's sister in Avenham Way, Bradford, Ismail flew to Pakistan where he lived for a couple of years before police traced him to an address in Slough, where he was living with his wife under an assumed name.

Ismail, of no fixed address, was jailed after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter and unlawfully possessing the gun.

The court heard that he had bought the weapon in May 1996 for £600 to use for protection after being threatened.

Ismail's barrister Mukhtar Hussain said it could only be described as a tragic case which was the result of "gross negligence'' and an accumulation of errors.

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