AN INQUEST has opened into the death of Zainab Begum, the Accrington mum who was killed and her body dismembered in 2004.

East Lancashire Coroner Michael Singleton had previously written to the Home Office asking if he could conduct an inquest into the death of the mother-of-six whose chopped-up body has never been found.

Her son-in-law Mohammed Arshad, 39, of Crumpsall, Manchester, was convicted of her murder at the end of a sensational trial.

He was given a life sentence with a minimum 24-year tariff which he failed to have reduced on appeal.

His brother Mohammed Khan, also 39, of the same address, was convicted of helping dispose of her body and jailed for seven years.

Despite police visits to see the brothers in jail, both have failed to reveal the whereabouts of Mrs Begum's remains.

Now an inquest is set to go ahead to see if any further light can be shed on her disappearance.

Mr Singleton said: "This lady is believed to have died on 13 January 2004 and now the Secretary of State has authorised me to conduct an inquest into her death.

"She is believed to have been murdered and her body parts dismembered but these have not been recovered."

The inquest is set to go ahead on 23 April.

Mrs Begum, who had six daughters and lived in Burnley Road, Accrington, was last seen alive when she saw her youngest daughter off to school.

The murder trial heard that she was murdered by Arshad that evening in her own home.

It was speculated that he then dismembered her body and, with the help of his brother, took the remains wrapped in bags to a takeaway restaurant which they ran in Church Street, Accrington.

During the two-week trial at Preston Crown Court in December 2004, Arshad admitted cutting his mother-in-law's body into nine pieces after dissolving it in caustic soda and vinegar.

He claimed the body parts were then dumped in bins outside restaurants on Manchester's curry mile in Rusholme, a claim police have never believed.