http://timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3171311.ece
Muslim teenager was victim of 'vile murder', coroner says
(PA)
Shafilea Ahmed: her parents and other family members have previously
been arrested over her disappearance, but no charges were laid
Image :1 of 3
Lucy Bannerman and agencies
Timeline: the life and death of Shafilea Ahmed
A Muslim teenager who went missing after expressing fears she was
being forced by her parents into an arranged marriage was the victim
of a "very vile murder", a coroner said today.
Shafilea Ahmed's decomposed body was found by workmen on the banks of
the River Kent at Sedgwick, Cumbria, five months after disappearing
from her home in Warrington, Cheshire, in September 2003.
Ian Smith, the East and South Cumbria coroner, ruled that the
teenager was unlawfully killed. He said he believed the A-level
student was murdered, and that the concept of an arranged marriage
was "central" to the circumstances leading up to her death.
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She was genuinely afraid, rightly or wrongly, that her parents were
planning to arrange her marriage, Mr Smith told the inquest at Kendal
County Hall at the end of a four-day hearing.
"She was murdered. I'm convinced of that because of the way in which
the body was disposed, it had been hidden and she had been taken many
miles away from home," he said.
He could not state where she died but he was "very confident" it was
not on the river bank. "I do not believe she escaped and ran away.
She was taken," he said.
"Shafilea was the victim of a very vile murder. I do not know who did
it. There's no evidence before the court as to who did it. I
sincerely hope in the future inquiries will be carried out by the
police and they will one day discover who did it because this young
woman has not had justice.
"Her ambition was to live her own life in her own way. To study, to
follow a career in the law and to do what she wanted to do.
"These are just basic fundamental rights and they were denied to
her."
Mr Smith pointed out they were "not much further forward" to knowing
how she died despite hearing a considerable amount of evidence from
her friends and teachers during the inquest.
Her parents have strongly denied any involvement in her death. The
Bradford-born student was reported missing a week after disappearing
on September 11, 2003 by a former school teacher at Great Sankey High
School.
Shafilea's father said he made a conscious decision not to report her
missing after the circumstances of two previous disappearances, in
November 2002 and January 2003. Iftikhar Ahmed, 48, a taxi driver,
said he was told by police on those occasions that there was nothing
that could be done because of her age.
Ruling the cause of death as "unascertained", the coroner said he was
satisfied Shafilea did not die of natural causes or suicide. Dr
Alison Armour, a pathologist, told the hearing the most likely cause
was by smothering or strangling.
Earlier, the inquest has heard evidence that the teenager led a
troubled life.
Community and homelessness workers said Shafilea had approached them
for help to find accommodation or a place in a refuge to escape from
her parents, whom she claimed before her death, were forcing her into
an arranged marriage.
She also confided to her friends that her parents beat her and stole
£2,000 from her bank account, although the coroner said there was no
proof this was the case.
Mr Smith said he believed Shafilea died within a few hours of leaving
work on the night of September 11, 2003.
She had become a "frightened young woman" following a phone
conversation in 2002 between Iftikhar, and his uncle. They had
discussed a possible arranged marriage between Shafilea and the
uncle's son.
Mr Ahmed told the hearing that such an arrangement needed the consent
of the boy and girl but the coroner said he believed the "greater
family" had more say on the issue and could impose pressure for it go
ahead.
The coroner said: "She (Shafilea) did not want to be married, full
stop, at this point. She did not want to marry someone she did not
know or may not like.
"She wanted to forge ahead with a career, she did not want to stop
her studies and she did not want to live abroad.
"Rightly or wrongly, she feared all these things might happen."
Shafilea saw a planned family trip to Pakistan in February 2003 in
which she feared she would be married as a threat to her future and
the end of her freedom, Mr Smith said.
The teenager went missing shortly after returning from a trip to
Pakistan, where she is believed to have drunk bleach after meeting a
possible suitor. Her family claimed she drank the caustic substance
in the mistaken belief it was mouthwash during a power cut.
Cheshire Police launched an investigation into the teenager's death
following the discovery of her body in February 2004. Only dental
records and jewellery could help police identify her.
Two months earlier they had arrested her parents, Iftikhar and
Farzana Ahmed, on suspicion of kidnap. Police also arrested five
relatives for perverting the course of justice. They were all later
released without charge and no one has ever been charged over
Shafilea's death.
Mr Ahmed said he last saw his daughter on the night of her
disappearance when "she was studying at the table, doing her work".
He said he realised his daughter had run away when he saw the house
keys posted through the letter box of the family home in Liverpool
Road, Great Sankey, the following morning.
Mr and Mrs Ahmed have denied accusations that they beat their
daughter. After turning up to class with a cut lip and bruising on
her neck, Shafilea told friends that one parent would hold her down
and the other would beat her.
They have also strongly denied any suggestion that her behaviour had
brought shame upon their family, and claim their daughter's fears of
an arranged marriage in Pakistan were unfounded.
Mr Ahmed said he accepted his daughter's reply of "no way" when a
potential suitor was mentioned. The ruling of unlawful killing comes
one day after her mother told the inquest she was not happy with the
investigation into her daughter's death.
She said: "It is more than four years. What have they been doing? Is
it not the police's job to find out what has happened to my child?
"Again and again they are blaming myself and my husband.
"I am not happy at all. They (the police) did not co-operate with us.
If they had co-operated there is a possibility they might have found
our daughter alive."
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