Man murdered daughter-in-law in family home

Nadeem Begum claimed he was asleep when his daughter-in-law Mashal Ilyas collapsed

A man who murdered his daughter-in-law six months after she arrived in the UK has been jailed.

Mashal Ilyas, 24, was found unconscious at the bottom of the stairs of the family home at Oxford Road, Atherton, Wigan on 9 October 2024 and died a short time later.

Nadeem Begum, 53, claimed he had been asleep and then found her collapsed but forensic, CCTV and phone evidence contradicted his explanation, with Ms Ilyas' cause of death found to be asphyxiation.

Begum was found guilty of her murder after a trial at Manchester Crown Court and has been given a life sentence with a minimum term of 18-years in prison.

The court heard that Ms Ilyas came to the UK from Pakistan following wedding arrangements made by the two families.

The jury was told about reported tensions between Begum and Ms Ilyas, and his views on her role within the household, which could have been the reason for the attack.

A post-mortem examination found several injuries including bruising to the neck which were not consistent with a fall.

'Brutal and unprovoked'

Jurors heard CCTV showed that all family members apart from Ms Ilyas and Begum had left the house.

Two spots of Begum's blood were found on Ms Ilyas' clothes and his DNA was recovered under her fingernails.

His phone had been active all morning disproving his claim he was asleep, Greater Manchester Police said.

Ms Ilyas's mother Rehana, who had spoken to her daughter on the phone shortly before her death, said she "was everything" to her.

"I wonder how she would have grown as a woman and a mother, the children she would have had, the challenges she would have overcome and the joy and happiness that would have filled her life.

"But I will never have that chance to see this because Nadeem Begum took that away from her in one senseless moment."

Senior Investigating Officer, Duncan Thorpe, said this was "a brutal and unprovoked attack on a young woman who had come to the UK to start a new life".