Inside the lair of ‘honour killing’ uncle: Squalid shipping container where twisted murderer stored niece’s body after stabbing her to death for refusing forced marriage to cousin in Pakistan
- EXCLUSIVE: Uncle is still paying rent on crime scene in belief he will need it soon
- Mohammed Taroos Khan, 53, got 25 years for the murder of Somaiya Begum, 20
The bloodied body of a young woman who rejected a forced marriage lay rolled up in a grimy rug overnight in this squalid home of her twisted uncle.
Racks of tools line the wall in the cluttered and grimy lounge area of Mohammed Taroos Khan’s shipping container residence in Bradford.
Furious that his niece, Somaiya Begum, had rejected her father’s arranged marriage to her cousin in Pakistan at the age of 16, and enraged at her increasing Westernisation, he mercilessly slaughtered the biomedical student four years later.
The lounge of killer uncle Mohammed Taroos Khan’s shipping container lair in Bradford
The murderer, 53, kept the place in squalid conditions and kept his niece’s dead body there
For her own safety, Somaiya, 20, had been living with her grandmother and another uncle, following a court-mandated Forced Marriage Protection Order.
It was in her beloved grandmother’s supposed safe house that Khan, 52, found his niece – and plunged a four-inch metal spike into her back, piercing her lung.
The sharpened woodworking tool was found embedded in her decomposed body when police eventually located it on waste ground, after a two-week search for the missing student.
Khan denied murder at Bradford Court Crown, but was found guilty of the ‘traumatic’ attack, and sentenced to 25 years in jail on Wednesday.
Despite the lengthy jail term, Khan has insisted he will keep paying his £240 rent for the cramped metal box where he lived, apparently under the impression he will need the premises again.
These interior pictures – obtained by MailOnline and taken with consent of the landlord – provide a chilling snapshot of Khan’s existence and the brief resting place of his tragic niece.
Mohammed Taroos Khan who was convicted at Bradford Crown Court of murdering his 20-year-old niece Somaiya Begum
He had rented two storage containers at an industrial unit just a mile from the murder scene and one above them where he lived.
A single bed is visible inside the ‘portable’ office-style container, which measures around 9ft wide and 30ft long.
The landlord, who refused to give his name, said Khan was still paying £240 a month rent for his living quarters.
He said: ‘I had a call off Mr Khan in January and I told him I could get somebody else in, but he said no. He said he’ll get his solicitor to drop the rent off.
‘He started renting the storage containers for his tools then one day said he needed to rent the one above to live in.’
Innocent Somaiya’s body was dumped on waste ground where it was found decomposed 11 days later
Khan has insisted on keeping up paying his £240 a month rent to keep hold of his home
The metal box on top was where Khan lived with his tools kept in the structures below
Khan’s hope to move back into one of the crimescenes is in stark contrast to his hero brother Dawood, who gave evidence against him in court.
Somaiya lived with her uncle Dawood and her grandmother after leaving her parent’s home two years ago under Forced Marriage Protection Order.
She moved in after attempts by her own father to force her to marry a cousin ‘by threat of violence’.
But that safe haven was violated when Khan fatally attacked her there on June 25 June last year.
Now neighbours of the property say heartbroken Dawood can no longer face going back there.
It is thought Somaiya’s grandmother now lives alone and is occasionally visited by another son who doesn’t live there.
Mahmood Hussain, who lives a few doors down, said: ‘He felt responsible for Somaiya. He hasn’t been back to the house since it happened.
Mahmood Hussain, 44, outside his home in Bradford, who lives along Binnie Street a few doors down from where Somaiya lived
Somaiya’s home, which her hero uncle Dawood, has had to leave because of his heartbreak
‘He’s not been able to cope since it all happened. It’s a shame because he’s the nicest guy.’
Mr Hussain, 44, said the first he knew of Somaiya’s disappearance was when Dawood frantically knocked on his door asking to check his CCTV footage because she had gone missing.
He had no idea his brother had snuck into using a set of keys he had cut while he was asleep and embedded an 11cm long spike from a tool in his workshop into Somaiya’s back.
Bradford Crown Court heard he probably strangled her, but an exact course of death could not be established due to decomposition of her body, which was ‘dumped like rubbish’ on waste land.
He added: ‘Nobody deserves to die like that. He deserves life in prison.
‘It must have been because of the arranged marriage, I can’t see another reason.
‘Nobody deserves to die like that. He deserves life in prison. You don’t kill someone over that. It’s terrible.’
No victim impact statements were read out in court from family members, but Dawood Khan said in evidence: ‘She was a blessing to have in the house and I could not fault her. She was the light of my life.’
Another neighbour, who wished to remain anonymous, said he came across as a ‘genuine and nice man’.
She said: ‘The uncle left the house straight away, but his mother is still there.
‘I heard he’s going through a nervous breakdown, he’s took it really hard.
‘He was really genuine. He was really lovely and thought a lot of her. I think he thought she was his responsibility.
‘The family were really quiet and never spoke much, but he always seemed nice.
‘It’s devastating to know what happened to her. You’d never see her out and about.
‘She had the freedom, but she just went to college and worked. She was very focused on studying, it’s such a shame.’
A third neighbour, who gave his name only as Abdul, said he’d known Khan since they were young men, but that Khan had ‘suddenly changed’ around 25 years ago.
He said: ‘He was ok when he was younger, we never had a problem and there were never any issues. But suddenly he just changed.
‘I don’t know what was wrong with him, but he wasn’t the same.
‘He was very quiet, but you never thought he would do such a thing like that.
‘Since the murder, the grandmother never answers the door anymore. Some relatives come and see her and sometimes take her shopping, but they’ll call when they arrive and she opens the door.
‘I haven’t seen Dawood since it happened. He just left the house and hasn’t returned.’
Mohammad Taroos Khan used to live at the house, in Binnie Street, Bradford, before being issued with a restraining after being convicted of battery against his own daughter.
He held a knife to her throat and threatened ‘to cut her up’, his murder trial heard.
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