A CORONER is waiting for permission to hold an inquest into the death of an Accrington mum who was killed and her body dismembered in 2004.

East Lancashire Coroner Michael Singleton has written to the Home Office asking if he can conduct an inquest into mum-of-six Zainab Begum, whose chopped-up body has never been found.

Her son-in-law Mohammed Arshad, 39, has failed in his appeal to have his life sentence with a minimum 24-year tariff reduced.

Arshad, of Crumpsall, Manchester, was convicted of her murder at the end of a sensational trial.

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 their jails, both brothers have failed to reveal the whereabouts of Mrs Begum's remains.

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 on the morning of 13 January 2004.

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

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.

If the Home Office grants permission for the inquest to go ahead it will be scheduled for later this year.