Jury told to put aside ‘feelings of revulsion’

A JUDGE has told the jury in the Shafilea Ahmed murder trial to put aside any “feelings of sympathy and revulsion” as they approach their verdicts.

Mr Justice Roderick Evans has begun summing up in the trial of Shafilea’s parents, Iftikhar and Farzana, who deny murdering the Bradford-born 17-year-old at the family home in Warrington, in 2003. Mr Justice Evans told the jury at Chester Crown Court: “Put aside any feelings of sympathy and revulsion. Discuss the evidence coolly and calmly.”

Shafilea disappeared in September 2003 and her body was found on the bank of the River Kent in Cumbria the next February. The prosecution claims she was killed by her parents because she brought shame on the family with her desire to lead a “westernised” lifestyle.

Related topics: