It was relief to tell police, says sister

The sister of Shafilea Ahmed has told a jury it was a “relief” to tell police after seven years that her parents had murdered the teenager.

Alesha Ahmed was giving evidence at Chester Crown Court yesterday where her parents, Iftikhar and Farzana, are accused of murdering Shafilea, 17, at the family home in September 2003.

Her decomposed remains were found in Cumbria in February 2004, but it was not until 2010 that Alesha provided the “final piece of the puzzle” about her death, the court has heard.

Iftikhar, 52, and Farzana, 49, of Warrington, Cheshire, deny murder.

Alesha, 23, disclosed that she witnessed the murder to her solicitor and a police officer while she was in custody after arranging a robbery at the family home.

Asked by Andrew Edis QC, prosecuting, why she had made the claim after all these years, Alesha said: “I think at that point I was really suffering with the family [and] the build-up to the robbery. It all got too much, and, to be honest, I think it was a relief more than anything to be able to tell someone finally.”

The trial continues.