News


‘CHOPPED-UP AT HOME’


29/11/2004

A MOTHER-of-six was murdered by a son-in-law and her body then cut up at her Lancashire home, it has been claimed.
The remains of Zainab Begum were then transferred to takeaway shop premises, but have never been discovered, Preston Crown Court was told.
A palm print in the blood of the 56 years old woman is said to have been made by her alleged killer Muhammed Arshad at the house on Burnley Road, Accrington.
Arshad, aged 37, of Middleton Road, Crumpsall, Manchester, has gone on trial accused of murdering Mrs Begum in January this year, a charge he denies.
His brother Mohammed Khan, also 37 and of Middleton Road, Crumpsall has pleaded not guilty to assisting in the disposal of her body.
The Crown allege that Mrs Begum was murdered on 13 January this year by Arshad. She was never seen again after seeing her youngest daughter off to school that day.
Her body has never been found, but at her home scientists found splatterings of blood and a hand print made in blood. It is suggested that it was Arshad's handprint in her blood.
Pakistan born Mrs Begum, a mother of six daughters, was separated from her second husband. Arshad had married one of her daughters in that country, in December 2001. Khan had also married one of her daughters.
Arshad had arrived in England in May 2002. For a time, the first defendant and his wife had lived at the Burnley Road address which was put up for sale.
But several days before her disappearance, Mrs Begum had moved back there, from Crumpsall and Arshad had gone to live with his brother in Manchester. She had decided to take her property off the market.
Mr David Turner, QC prosecuting, told the court "The prosecution say the first defendant murdered her in her own home, dismembered her body and then together with his brother, the second defendant, took the dismembered body wrapped in bags to a takeaway restaurant which they jointly ran in Accrington."
Mrs Begum's blood was found at the Millennium takeaway premises on Church Street, Accrington. When the shop was examined by scientists it was suggested that body parts had been stored behind the bar on the first floor, before being taken down to the kitchen.
Mr Turner told the jury "In the kitchen the blood trail stops. What happened to the body afterwards is known only by the two defendants, who together disposed of her body to ensure that no traces of that woman would ever be found," he alleged.
The two brothers had been working at the Millennium takeaway for some time, planning to take over the business that month. Arshad worked there part time, but had a full time job at Holland Pies' Accrington factory.
The pizza takeaway has since been taken over by someone else and renamed.
The prosecution say it is highly likely that Mrs Begum was attacked in a bedroom at Burnley Road and her body dragged into the bathroom.
The blooded palm print was found at the top of the stairs. When DNA tested, it matched her profile. Arshad's blood was also discovered at the address.
Following his arrest two weeks later Arshad told police in his sixth police interview that he had killed Zainab Begum. He put forward what the Crown claim was a "lieing and totally unlikely" scenario that his mother-in-law had made sexual advances to him and he had thrown her off, onto a mattress.
He suggested she banged her head on a wall at the house. He noticed blood coming from her nose and on checking her pulse, found she was dead.
Arshad went on to tell the police that he had tried to dismember her body and poured caustic soda over it. He also said the body parts were transferred to the takeaway and later taken to his address in Crumpsall.
The defendant also alleged that the remains were taken in bags and deposited in bins at the back of various Indian takeaways in the Rusholme area.
But Mr Turner added "It is the professional opinion of the experts consulted by the police that this could not be done using domestic caustic soda alone in the time suggested. There is little support, suggest the prosecution, that there were body parts in Crumpsall."
The trial continues and is expected to last two weeks.


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