Four people have been found guilty of the “callous and cold-blooded” murder of two men after their car was rammed off a dual carriageway during a high-speed chase.
Saqib Hussain and Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin, both 21, died instantly when their vehicle was rammed off the A46 near Six Hills, Leicestershire, during the early hours of 11 February last year crashing into a central reservation barrier and a tree.
Mr Hussain, who was a passenger in the car, had made a 999 call just seconds earlier stating they were being chased by people in balaclavas, being rammed off the road and that they were going to die.
A murder investigation was launched which led to Ansreen Bukhari, Mahek Bukhari, Raees Jamal, Rekan Karwan, Sanaf Gulamustafa, Ameer Jamal, Natasha Akhtar and Mohammed Patel all being arrested and charged with the murder of Mr Hussain and Mr Ijazuddin.
Today, following a trial at Leicester Crown Court, Ansreen Bukhari, Mahek Bukhari, Raees Jamal and Rekan Karwan were found guilty of the murders of Saqib Hussain and Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin.
Sanaf Gulamustafa, Ameer Jamal and Natasha Akhtar were found not guilty of murder but were found guilty of the manslaughter of Mr Hussain and Mr Ijazuddin.
Mohammed Patel was found not guilty of murder and not guilty of manslaughter.
Enquiries carried out during the murder investigation showed Mr Hussain had been in relationship with Ansreen Bukhari for around three years. After Ansreen Bukhari, who was married, tried to end the affair, Mr Hussain made threats to expose the relationship to her husband and to share sexual images and videos of Ansreen Bukhari.
Ansreen Bukhari had offered to pay back money which Mr Hussain had spent during the relationship and it was arranged for Mr Hussain to meet with Ansreen Bukhari and her daughter Mahek Bukhari, who knew about the affair. However, Ansreen and Mahek Bukhari arrived at the arranged meet-up in the Tesco car park in Hamilton, Leicester, along with the 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 Ijuzaddin, who had said he would take him.
CCTV footage showed the Skoda Fabia arrive in the car park and then immediately leave. The Audi TT and Seat Leon followed the Skoda out of the car park two minutes later. The cars then ultimately ended up in a chase before the 999 call was made by Mr Hussain. The collision itself was not captured on CCTV.
Enquiries at the scene of the crash carried out by a forensic collision investigator established that the Skoda Fabia had hit the barrier of the central reservation before colliding with a tree. The impact of the collision was so severe that the vehicle had split into two and the engine of the car had detached from the car. Mr Hussain and Mr Ijazuddin both died immediately from multiple injuries. Both men died prior to the fire taking hold.
The detailed police investigation that followed involved retrieving many hours of CCTV evidence from different locations to trace the movements of those involved. This included CCTV of the cars in the lead up to the incident, as shown above, as well as the movements of the vehicles and defendants after the collision.
A tracker fitted on the Audi TT, which was a hire car, showed it had reached speeds of up to 100mph during the chase. The speed of the Skoda at the time of the collision was estimated at being in excess of 80mph.
The tracker on the Audi TT also showed heavy braking after the crash with its speed reduced to 62mph. The Audi and Seat were found to have continued along the A46 before reaching a junction where two people were seen getting out a car, believed to be inspecting it for damage, before getting back in.
Both the Audi TT and the Seat Leon were found to have driven past the crashed vehicle before later driving back past the collision site. None of the defendants called 999.
Ansreen Bukhari, Mahek Bukhari and Akhtar were arrested during the same morning of the collision with Raees Jamal and Karwan being arrested three days later. Ameer Jamal and Gulamustafa were arrested in March.
Senior Investigating Officer in the case, Detective 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.
“As the defendants found guilty were arrested, charged and stood trial before a court, lies were continually told in order to try and cover their tracks. Their only concern during the whole incident and investigation has been for themselves.
“My thoughts at this time remain with Mr Hussain and Mr Ijazuddin and their families. The past 16 months has been an extremely difficult and heart-breaking time for both families. They have not only had to come to terms with losing a family member in the most horrific way but have then had to hear extremely distressing details of this in court, waiting for justice to be done. My heartfelt thanks go to them for their bravery, support and co-operation throughout this time.
“This investigation was an extremely complex case which involved officers from across different forces working together to ensure quick action was taken, that the full facts were established and that those responsible were quickly brought into custody. Thank you to every officer and staff member that has been involved in this investigation from the initial response to the investigation and court hearing. Your professionalism and dedication helped lead to this result here at court today.”
Ansreen Bukhari, 46, of George Eardley Close, Stoke-on-Trent; Mahek Bukhari, 24, of George Eardley Close, Stoke-on-Trent; Raees Jamal, 23, of Lingdale Close, Loughborough; Rekan Karwan, 29, of Tomlin Road, Leicester; Sanaf Gulamustafa, 23, of Littlemore Close, Leicester; Ameer Jamal, 28, of Catherine Street, Leicester and Natasha Akhtar, 23, of Alum Rock Road, Birmingham; have all been remanded into custody and are due to be sentenced on Friday 1 September.
The murder trial heard Ansreen Bukhari had threatened to report Mr Hussain to the police before confiding in Mahek about the messages received. Messages found between Ansreen and Mahek showed Mahek informed her mum: “I’ll get him jumped by guys and he won’t know what day it is”.
Tribute
Saqib was a much-loved young man. He was kind, compassionate, caring and sensible. My family has been shattered by this senseless act and we are still struggling to come to terms with the enormity of our loss. I do not feel that we have received justice as we have now got a life sentence.
We are grateful that the courts saw through all the lies attributed to my son Saqib. Thank God the jury saw through it and gave the verdicts our children deserve.
Saqib’s death has brought so much sadness, not just to his family, but to the many people that knew him. I would like to thank those that have, and continue to provide overwhelming support to our family. A special thank you must also go to the police and CPS, our Family Liaison Officers, our victim support officer, our local schools and the local mosque.
I never imagined that I would have to bury one of my children; that I would spend every waking moment suddenly expecting him to come back and tell me everything is ok; endlessly searching for his face whenever I am in public even though I know it is impossible.
This grief of losing Saqib has further been compounded by having to relive the horror of my son’s death over and over again in court. My family and I would like to thank Leicestershire Police greatly for their diligence, thoroughness and painstaking hard work in ensuring that those responsible for Saqib’s death did not evade justice.
Hashim
“Everyone who knew Hashim, loved him. His death is not just a massive loss to our family but also to our whole community.
“Hashim was a cheeky young man who was always smiling, a handsome man who was beautiful both on the inside and out. He would do anything for anyone, was very caring and had a very kind heart.
“Hashim would always put others first and wouldn’t hesitate to help others if they needed it. On that tragic day, he was simply helping his friend and this resulted in his death.
“It has been extremely painful not only losing Hashim at such a young age but also in the circumstances in which we lost him.
“We will always be extremely proud of Hashim. Whatever he would have done in life, we know he would have excelled in it. Hashim was and will always be our superstar and our one-in-a-million.
“The family would like to thank the police, the CPS and the prosecuting counsel and everyone else who supported and prayed for Hashim and for us.”
