Parents in court over suspected ‘honour killing’ of teenager

Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed, of Liverpool Road, Warrington, Cheshire, were charged yesterday with murdering their 17-year-old daughter on September 11, 2003.

Shafilea’s decomposed remains were discovered on the banks of the River Kent, in Cumbria, in February 2004.

In January 2008, after a four-day inquest into the Bradford-born teenager’s death, South Cumbria coroner Ian Smith recorded a verdict of unlawful killing, saying he believed she was probably murdered.

The accused couple were presented in the dock at Halton Magistrates’ Court in Runcorn, Cheshire, and spoke only to confirm their names and addresses.

The case was adjourned until tomorrow for a bail hearing at Manchester Crown Court, where they will appear via video link.

Mr Ahmed, 51, wearing an open-necked white shirt, gave family members a thumbs-up as he was taken down.

Mrs Ahmed, 48, who was wearing a head scarf and spoke through an interpreter, appeared to be on the verge of tears and nodded to her family during the short hearing.

The couple have been on police bail since their arrest in September last year on suspicion of murdering their daughter.

They have always denied any involvement in the teenager’s death.

Shafilea was a bright and intelligent young woman who wanted to go to university and become a lawyer, the inquest into her death was told.

She was most likely strangled or suffocated, pathologists said.

Mr and Mrs Ahmed were initially arrested on suspicion of kidnapping their daughter in December 2003 but they were then were released without charge in June 2004 when the Crown Prosecution Service ruled that there was insufficient evidence against them.