A MAN murdered his mother-in-law and chopped her body up into pieces at her Accrington home, a court was told.

The remains of mother-of-six Zainab Begum were then transferred to a town centre takeaway but have never been discovered, a Preston Crown Court jury heard this week.

A palm print found in the blood of the 56-year-old woman is said to have been made by her alleged killer, Muhammed Arshad, at the house in Burnley Road.

Arshad, 37, of Crumpsall, Manchester, denies murdering Mrs Begum back in January. His brother Mohammed Khan, also 37, of the same address, has pleaded not guilty to helping dispose of her body.

The Crown alleges that Mrs Begum was murdered on 13 January by Arshad. She saw her youngest daughter off to school that day - and was never seen again.

Her body has not been found, but at her home scientists found splatterings of blood and a hand print claimed to be Arshad's.

Pakistan-born Mrs Begum, who has six daughters, was separated from her second husband. Arshad married one of her daughters in Pakistan in December 2001 and Khan married another.

Arshad arrived in England in May 2002 and, for a time, he and his wife lived at the Burnley Road address, which was later put up for sale.

Soon before her disappearance, Mrs Begum moved back there from Crumpsall and Arshad went to live with his brother in Manchester. She decided to take her property off the market.

Mr David Turner QC, prosecuting, told the court: "The prosecution says Arshad murdered her in her own home, dismembered her body and then, together with his brother, took the remains wrapped in bags to a takeaway restaurant which they jointly ran in Accrington."

Mrs Begum's blood was found at the Millennium takeaway 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."

The brothers had been working at the Millennium pizza and kebab takeaway for some time and planned to take over the business that month. Arshad worked there part-time but had a full-time job at Holland's Pies in Baxenden.

The takeaway has since been taken over by someone else and renamed.

The prosecution says it is highly likely that Mrs Begum was attacked in a bedroom at the Burnley Road house and her body dragged into the bathroom.

The bloody palm print was found at the top of the stairs. When tested for DNA, 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 interview that he had killed Zainab Begum.

He put forward what the Crown claims was a "lying 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. He noticed blood coming from her nose and, on checking her pulse, found she was dead.

Arshad went on to tell police that he had tried to dismember her body and poured caustic soda over it. He said the body parts were transferred to the takeaway and later taken to his address in Crumpsall.

The defendant 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 for the claim that there were body parts in Crumpsall."

The trial continues and is expected to last two weeks.