Sister of murdered teenager ‘wrote of killing’

A SISTER of Shafilea Ahmed gave a friend writings in which she spoke about “how her parents killed the teenager”, a court heard.

Mevish Ahmed, 21, was giving evidence in the trial of parents Iftikhar 52, and Farzana, 49, who deny murdering 17-year-old Shafilea at the family home in Warrington, Cheshire, in September 2003.

Cross-examined by Andrew Edis QC, for the prosecution, Miss Ahmed, who was 12 when her sister disappeared, described the papers as “free writing” and fiction.

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They were written by Miss Ahmed in 2008 and given to her friend, Shahin Munir, Chester Crown Court heard.

Mr Edis asked Miss Ahmed if she was aware Ms Munir had given the police “the letters you wrote to her about your sister’s death”.

She said: “They are not letters about my sister’s death, they are free writing. I write fiction, I write it quite a lot. Me and Alesha used to write fictional things and make-believe. It’s not necessarily associated with ourselves.”

Mr Edis went on: “These pieces of paper were about your parents killing Shafilea.” Miss Ahmed replied: “Like I said, fiction writing.”

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Alesha Ahmed has told the jury her parents forced a plastic bag into Shafilea’s mouth and suffocated her on the settee at home in front of their other children.

The prosecution say the couple murdered their “Westernised” daughter because they believed her conduct was bringing shame on the family. Shafilea’s decomposed remains were discovered in Cumbria in February 2004 but it was not until 2010 that Alesha provided police with the “final piece of the puzzle”, the trial has heard.

Mr Edis asked Miss Ahmed: “What made you want to embroider a story about this dreadful family tragedy?” She replied: “I didn’t see any harm in it.”

The barrister said: “This is a story, if it had a title, it may be My Parents Killed My Sister.” “That wasn’t the intention of the story,” Miss Ahmed replied.

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He then read out the text of the document and pointed out details which appeared to corroborate Alesha’s evidence, and added: “It looks like an allegation of murder against your parents which you then gave to Shahin.”

Miss Ahmed admitted some of the content was “disturbing” but said it was “crap”, describing herself as a drama queen. She also said she had been using drugs around the time the documents were written.

The trial continues.