Husband threatened to kill me and children says Shafilea’s mother

Iftikhar Ahmed, 52, and his wife Farzana, 49, have been on trial for the past eight weeks, accused of murdering their 17-year-old daughter Shafilea at their Cheshire home in September 2003. They deny her murder.

But yesterday, in a dramatic twist, Farzana Ahmed, of Liverpool Road, Warrington, changed her defence, admitting an “incident of violence” towards the Bradford-born teenager did occur on September 11 2003.

Henry Riding, prosecuting, told the jury the new statement from Farzana Ahmed alleges she came downstairs at their home to discover her husband attacking Shafilea at around 9.30pm, hitting and slapping her face. Farzana Ahmed claims she tried to intervene but was told to “shut up” and when she tried to “protect” her daughter was pushed away and then “punched with a clenched fist”.

She alleges only one other child – Mevish Ahmed – was there to see what was happening and she “anticipated” she too could be harmed, so she took her upstairs and stayed with the other children in a bedroom.

Farzana Ahmed claims she was “extremely scared” so stayed in the room for some 20 minutes before she heard a car leaving. When she went back downstairs Shafilea and her husband were gone.

The statement alleges when her husband returned, she asked him where Shafilea was, and he replied: “If you care for your dear life and that of your children, don’t ever ask me this question again.”

She asked the same “one or two days later” and says he responded: “I have already told you once before, I don’t know where she is. I have also told you not to ask me that question again.”

Farzana Ahmed says her husband said if she told anyone anything he would “do the same to our other children and to you”.

She ends the statement by saying she believed her husband had taken Shafilea “somewhere” and that “she was safe”.

Mr Justice Roderick Evans told the jury that Farzana Ahmed’s change of story was “a significant development in the case”.

The prosecution claims Shafilea was killed by her parents because she brought shame on the family by her desire to lead a “westernised” lifestyle.

Shafilea’s younger sister Alesha, 23, has previously told the court her parents killed Shafilea after an argument, suffocating her with a plastic bag forced into her mouth as she and her siblings watched.

The trial continues.