A KILLER who murdered his mother-in-law and chopped up the body with a cleaver was jailed for life today (Fri) - keeping secret what he did with her remains.

At the time of the killing, butcher Muhammed Arshad help run a take-away, and also had a job in a pie factory. He claimed the body parts were dumped in bins outside restaurants on Manchester's "curry mile" at Rusholme. But no traces of her were ever found, a jury at Preston Crown court was told.

Arshad, aged 37, of Middleton Road, Crumpsall, Manchester, who denied murder, claimed that 56-year-old mother-of-six Zainab Begum had made sexual advances to him. He claimed she struck her head against the wall when he pushed her away.

Arshad said he was getting changed at her home in Burnley Road, Accrington, when she walked into the bedroom naked. She had last been seen alive seeing her youngest daughter off to school.

The prosecution alleged that after dismembering the body, Arshad's brother, Mohammed Khan, 37, helped him move the parts to the take-away in Church Street, Accrington, which they ran. Forensic experts found that body parts had been stored on the first floor before being taken down to the kitchen.

David Turner QC, prosecuting, said "In the kitchen the blood trail stopped. What happened to the body afterwards is known only to the defendants who together disposed of her body to ensure that no traces of the woman would ever be found."

The judge recommended that Arshad should serve at least 24 years. Khan, also of Middleton Road, Crumpsall, got seven years after being convicted of assisting in the disposal of the body.

Det Chief Inspector Steve Brunskill said later: "The family has had to listen to very distressing evidence in relation to the disposal of their mother's body. Now that Arshad has been convicted I hope he can find it in himself to tell us the truth and help us recover Zainab's body. Without his help we may never find her."

In a statement, her six daughters said "Our lives were devastated when our mother was taken away from us in the most brutal and untimely manner imaginable. No one can ever take her place. She will live on inside us forever.

"The verdicts mean that, having been denied the basic right to a funeral and burial, she has received some justice and we, her family, can take solace from that."

The judge, Dame Heather Steel, who described the case as "horrifying" said the motive had been to get Mrs Begum's home and money.

She told Arshad: "You were by occupation a butcher and you butchered your victim using fearsome tools. This was a cold blooded, cruel and planned murder." She told Khan: "You lied and lied to try to save yourself, and made yourself a willing assistant to an appalling offence."