Alesha Ahmed told a family friend her sister Shafilea was “stabbed” by their father and the body was “in pieces”, a jury heard yesterday.

Bradford-born Shafilea’s parents Iftikhar, 52, and Farzana, 49, deny murdering the 17-year-old by suffocating her at the family home in Warrington, Cheshire, in September 2003.

The teenager’s remains were discovered in Cumbria in 2004, but it was not until 2010 that Alesha provided police with the “final piece of the puzzle” about her death, the prosecution said.

Giving evidence yesterday, Sehreen Shafaat, 22, a close friend of the Ahmed children, said Alesha told her Mr Ahmed stabbed Shafilea.

Miss Shafaat, a trainee barrister, told the jury she and Alesha were in her car when Miss Ahmed turned to her and said the family “were not getting on”. She described Alesha as “crying” and said: “And then she just came out with ‘My dad did it’.”

Miss Shafaat said she knew what Alesha was talking about and was shocked, replying: “What?”

“And she said, ‘Yeah, my dad killed her’,” the witness went on.

Miss Shafaat told the jury Alesha said “something like”, “My dad stabbed her and the body was all in pieces”.

Earlier in the trial, Alesha Ahmed described how her parents pushed Shafilea on to the settee and she heard her mother say "”Just finish it here” in Urdu as they suffocated her.

The couple murdered their "Westernised" daughter because they believed her conduct was bringing shame on the family, the prosecution say.