The grandfather of a pregnant lawyer who was pushed to her death from a hill did not tell his family he had terminal cancer because he didn't want to "divert attention" from her murder case - and died before her killer was jailed.
Relatives called Abdul Latif, 70, their “leading investigator” as they fought to get justice for Fawziyah Javed, 31, who was murdered by Kashif Anwar, 29 at Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh. They said the grandad kept quiet about his terminal diagnosis until 48 hours before he died on November 1.
Fawziyah’s uncle, Shahid Farouk, 53, said Abdul was there when his granddaughter’s body was identified on September 4 in 2021. Shahid said it was “devastating” Abdul was unable to get the “closure” he had sought when Anwar was jailed for Fawziyah’s murder on April 6.
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He said: “He was like our leading investigating officer. He was with us all the way. But he sadly died from cancer. And the worst thing about it was that he kept it inside him.
“Doctors were telling him, ‘You must tell your family. You’ve not got long to live.’ They gave him a year, but sadly he went within a couple of months."
Shahid added: “When we went to identify Fawziyah on September 4, we should have been celebrating her birthday, not going to a mortuary to identify her body, and Fawziyah’s grandad went with us. The reason why he didn’t want to tell anybody was that he knew the family was going through a lot of grief with Fawziyah’s ongoing case, so he didn’t want to trouble us and divert us to his attention.
“It wasn’t until 48 hours, when his condition deteriorated a lot, that he actually told us. It’s a huge blow for us, losing Fawziyah’s grandfather, not having the closure of the case before he passed away."
Fawziyah was 17 weeks pregnant when she was murdered by her abusive husband Anwar. He lured her on a trip to Scotland before shoving her from the 50ft natural landmark on September 2, 2021.
But she used her dying breaths to tell police that her husband was responsible for her injuries, which helped lead to his conviction at Edinburgh’s high court. Shahid, paying tribute to the “god-gifted” lawyer, said Anwar would have pulled off the “perfect murder” if it was not for her intervention.
The businessmen said: “He was a jealous, controlling freak. He didn’t show any remorse at all for what he did, taking not only her life but her child’s life as well.
“I would have said this guy is a psychopath. It beggars belief. Who would do that? A woman who was educated, she bought him things, and it just wasn’t enough for him.
“God gave her that strength that she was alive when the police got there. But it was almost the perfect murder for him to get away with, had she not been alive, I don’t think there would be much evidence.”
He added: “What person not only kills his wife but his own child as well? He showed no remorse whatsoever and he was a coward. He depleted our trust. I remember him telling us, ‘I’ll look after her’. And they bought her home in a body bag. He’s completely ruined our lives.
“Fawziyah was god gifted. She was educated, and she was the best in my family. She was an only child. She went to gateways private school in Leeds. She was just very humble."
Describing her as a "kind-hearted, honest girl", Shahid said she had just wanted to be loved but "met the wrong guy". Shahid said he had hoped Anwar’s sentence would be longer but understood under Scottish law that 20 years was the maximum that the killer could receive.
However, he criticized West Yorkshire Police for not intervening sooner in the abusive relationship between Fawziyah and Anwar when they lived in Leeds. He said: “She should have got better protection, and West Yorkshire Police were in all honesty a bit slow to take action.
“I think they were going to talk to him, but they’d already taken her to Edinburgh. And he was adamant all the time. She was scared of heights, but she felt if this is going to stop this from happening, maybe this will work.
“And he had that evil plan. And I don’t think it was planned for a couple of weeks, I think it was something planned for months.”
He added: “No sentence is ever going to be enough, but it gives us some comfort and I welcome the judge’s verdict.”
West Yorkshire Police have been contacted for comment.
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