CCTV has captured the moment a murderer dumped his victim’s carpet-wrapped body in a shipping container.
Repairman Mohammed Taroos Khan, 53, killed Somaiya Begum, 20, in an attack at her home in Bradford, West Yorkshire, on June 25 last year, before leaving her body on waste ground where it was found decomposed 11 days later.
A CCTV camera at the scene shows Khan driving up in a silver car, parking and walking over to the silver shipping container.
He unlocks it, then walks out of view, before returning to the car and driving it to the container, positioning the boot adjacent to the door.
He is later seen driving away from the scene.
Found 11 days later, Ms Begum’s body was in such an advanced state of decomposition that it was not possible for the coroner to determine the cause of her death.
A metal spike was embedded in her back, with her body wrapped “unceremoniously” in carpet, “covered in scrap material amongst rubbish on waste ground”, the judge remarked.
Khan was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 25 years on 15 March.
Ms Begum had been living with another of her uncles and her grandmother following a forced marriage protection order, as her father, Mohammed Yaseen Khan, had attempted to force her to marry a cousin from Pakistan “by threat of violence”, the jury heard.
As Mr Justice Garnham noted during the sentencing, Khan “did not share” the view of his brother “about the role of women or the obligation of Somaiya to obey her father”.
The motive behind Khan’s actions is not clear, with the judge refusing to speculate whether the killing was the response to “some appalling family agreement”. Likewise, West Yorkshire Police observed that the “only person” that would ever know the reasons behind the murder was Khan himself.
Detective Superintendent Marc Bowes, of West Yorkshire Police, described the attack as “vicious and sustained.” Khan’s disposal of her body was “despicable”, he added.
“Somaiya was a bright young woman who was studying to get a degree, had a part-time job to support herself and was happy and content with home life.
“She had her whole life ahead of her and it was cruelly cut short by her uncle, someone who is meant to love, care and protect her”, Detective Superintendent Bowes said.
“Khan went to extreme lengths to cover up his crime; he dumped her body in wasteland, showing complete disregard and disrespect for human life, with the hope that her body would never be found.”
