Family grieves for murdered Farah

POLICE hunting the killer of a young mother whose body was found by a river said yesterday that they have received a disappointing response to their appeal for information.

Detectives believe Farah Noor Adams, 34, was killed as she power-walked beside the River Kelvin in Glasgow on Friday morning.

Her distraught eight-year-old daughter is said to be struggling to come to terms with her mother's death.

Strathclyde Police yesterday stepped up their presence in the Maryhill area where the part-time youth worker was killed and urged residents to be vigilant.

The fully-clothed body of the mother-of-one was discovered by volunteer workers tidying up the river embankment at 10:45am, near Lock 25 of the Forth and Clyde Canal.

Detectives have refused to rule out a sexual or racist motive for the murder.

It is thought Ms Adams had gone exercising after dropping off her daughter, Laila, at St Charles' RC Primary School in Kelvinside Gardens that morning. Her silver Volkswagen Polo was found parked outside her first-floor flat on Colebrooke Street, near Kelvinbridge Underground Station, which lies in the heart of the city's fashionable west end.

The young mother is thought to have been separated from her husband, Jamal, who is an Asian Muslim.

Grief-stricken relatives yesterday gathered at the Glasgow house of her father, Haji, who is a well-known figure in the city's Muslim community as the caretaker of the Central Mosque.

Bashir Mann, a close family friend and the president of the National Association of British Pakistanis, said: "I have known her father for 35 years, he is a good man and he, like the rest of Farah's family, is deeply upset right now.

"They are all completely devastated and her daughter - for one so young to lose her mother in such a way is particularly upsetting. She is old enough to understand what has happened but she is struggling to come to terms with it all."

The former Glasgow councillor said he was unaware of reports that Farah had a Scottish boyfriend.

"I don't know if she had a boyfriend, but if she did she would not publicise it, as it is totally unacceptable to have a boyfriend and live out of wedlock in our community," he said.

Mohammed Sarwar, the Glasgow Central MP, has visited the family. He said that members of the Asian community had urged him to pursue the case as relentlessly as he has the alleged killers of the Glasgow teenager Kriss Donald.

Mr Sarwar last week helped Strathclyde Police secure the extradition from Pakistan to Scotland of three men wanted in connection with the death last year of the 15-year-old. They have been charged with murder.

He said: "You would be surprised at the strength of the feeling in the community and the amount of people who have approached me and said, 'I hope you pursue this as you did the alleged killers of Kriss Donald'.

"Everyone is shocked and deeply upset and hoping there's no racist element in this. They want as soon as possible that whoever is responsible for this brutal act is brought to justice.

"Farah's family are disturbed and grief-stricken by this terrible tragedy. Her daughter was waiting for her mother to pick her up from school but she didn't come. It's so upsetting."

Professor Ian Stephen, the leading criminal psychologist who inspired the television drama Cracker, said the killer must have had "a fair bit of anger".

"It could be someone who targeted her at random, someone who's been stalking the area looking for a victim," he said.

"But it sounds like quite a brutal attack, someone with a fair bit of anger who possibly knew Farah and her routine. Detectives will be eliminating her relatives from the inquiry as a matter of course."

A team of more than 30 police officers have been trying to piece together Farah's final movements on the morning of her murder. The petite woman was wearing a short red cotton zipped top, blue jeans, navy blue trainers and a navy blue "NY" baseball cap.

Police are keeping a high visibility presence in the area of the killing, with officers on mountain bikes and on horseback, in a bid to reassure the public.

Superintendent Peter McLaughlin, of Strathclyde Police, said yesterday: "Understandably the local community is deeply shocked by this tragic killing.

"However, I want to assure the community that everything is being done to find the person or persons responsible for Farah's murder."

He added: "Clearly, we do not want to raise people's fears or cause any alarm. However, we would urge them to take extra care and, where possible, to walk or jog in pairs for the time being."