LONDON: A British-Pakistani mother and her daughter were found guilty of killing the former’s lover and his friend in a car crash. Mahek Bukhari, who was famous on TikTok, was convicted by a jury along with mother Ansreen Bukhari, 47, after 28 hours of deliberations on Friday.

The crash unfolded last year near Leicester, killing Saqib Hus­s­ain and Hashim Ijazuddin, both 21. The trial at Leicester Crown Court shed light on the events leading up to the crash.

According to police, inquiries showed Mr Hussain had been in relationship with Ms Ansreen for three years. After Ansreen Bukhari tried to end the affair, Mr Hussain made threats to expose the relationship to her husband and share her videos. Ms Ansreen offered to pay back money which Mr Hussain had spent during the relationship and it was arranged for Mr Hussain to meet with Ms Ansreen and her daughter.

“…Ansreen and Mahek Bukhari arrived at the arranged meet-up in the Tesco car park in Hamilton, Leicester, along with…six other defendants. The eight defendants were in two vehicles — an Audi TT and a Seat Leon. Mr Hussain then arrived at the car park in a Skoda Fabia, being driven by his friend Mr Ijazuddin,” police said.

They said the impact of the collision caused the Skoda to split into two and its engine to detach from the body. “Both victims died immediately from multiple injuries, prior to the fire taking hold.”

Inspector Mark Parish said: “This was a callous and cold-blooded attack which ultimately cost two men their lives.

“After setting Mr Hussain and Mr Ijazuddin up, chasing them at high speed and then ultimately ramming their car off the road, none of the defendants made any attempt to help the victims or to call for help. Instead they drove on and then even drove back past the collision site. Still no-one attempted to offer any help.”

The jury also found Rekhan Karwan and Raees Jamal guilty of the murder. However, Natasha Akhtar, Ameer Jamal, and Sanaf Gulamustafa were cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter. One co-accused, Mohammed Patel, was acquitted of charges.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2023