Man who stabbed wife in street guilty of murder
Habibur Masum had denied murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter and possession of a bladed article
- Published
A man who stabbed his wife to death in front of their infant son after tracking her to a refuge has been found guilty of murder.
Habibur Masum stabbed Kulsuma Akter more than 25 times after confronting her in Bradford while she pushed their seven-month-old son in a pram in April 2024. The baby was unharmed.
Bradford Crown Court heard Ms Akter, 27, had been living in a refuge in the city since January after Masum held a knife to her throat at their home in Oldham.
Masum, 26, of Leamington Avenue in Burnley, had pleaded guilty to manslaughter and possession of a bladed article but was convicted of murder after a trial.
He was also convicted of one count of assault by beating, making a threat to kill and stalking.
His trial heard Ms Akter left the hostel to meet a friend on the day of the attack in the belief that Masum was away in Spain.
However, he later confronted her in the city centre having tracked her through her phone location.
Masum was seen on CCTV attempting to take control of the pram and steer Ms Akter away with him.
He pulled a knife from his jacket and repeatedly stabbed her after she refused to go with him.
The trial heard he calmly walked away after the "ferocious" attack on 6 April and was pictured grinning on CCTV as he boarded a bus, with prosecutors describing him as the "smiling killer".
Masum then travelled almost 200 miles (321km) south to Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, sparking a nationwide manhunt.
He was arrested in the early hours of 9 April in a car park near Stoke Mandeville Hospital, where he had gone to be treated for "lockjaw".
Kulsuma Akter was pronounced dead at the scene in Bradford on 6 April 2024
In the days leading up to the attack, Masum was seen "loitering, watching and waiting" in streets around the hostel, jurors heard.
He sent messages threatening to kill family members if she did not return to him, before trying to lure her out by sending fake messages from a local GP practice.
The texts claimed their son had an appointment and warned of "increasingly dire consequences" if she did not attend, the trial was told.
Masum, who gave evidence through a Bengali interpreter, said he did not remember killing his wife and had taken a weapon with the intention of harming himself if she did not "listen to him".
Ms Akter had told him there would be no lack of people to replace him as a father to their son, according to his evidence.
However, prosecutors argued antagonising Masum was "the very last thing Kulsuma would do" as she knew what he was capable of.
They said his tears were "as fake as his claims of self harm", with Masum due to be sentenced on 22 July.
Reacting to the conviction, Det Ch Insp Stacey Atkinson, of West Yorkshire Police, said Ms Akter had "suffered a brutal attack in broad daylight whilst her baby son was in his pram".
"Kulsuma should not have died, she should have been safe and it's down to the actions of Masum she is no longer with us," she said.
"Her family have been left absolutely devastated by her death, I hope today's conviction will bring them a sense of justice in knowing that the man responsible has been found guilty."
CCTV captured the moment Masum confronted Kulsuma in the street, seconds before she was attacked
Jurors were told the couple met and married in Bangladesh and came to the UK in 2022 after Masum obtained a student visa and enrolled on a Masters course.
They initially lived apart but moved into a house together in Oldham in September 2022.
Ms Akter left the home briefly to stay with her brother in July 2023 due to his controlling behaviour, the court heard, but returned when he threatened to harm himself.
In November 2023 he became jealous over a "completely innocuous" message she received from a male colleague, prosecutors said.
The following day he went into their bedroom carrying a knife and held it to her throat.
Ms Akter's sister-in-law called police and Masum was arrested, with Ms Akter moved to the Bradford refuge by social services in January 2024.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigated the contacts Ms Akter had with both West Yorkshire Police and Greater Manchester Police prior to her death.
Following a nine-month investigation, the watchdog found "no indication any officer or member of staff may have breached police professional standards".
Emily Barry, IOPC director, said: "We have shared our report with both police forces and the coroner to help inform future inquest proceedings.
"We have met with family members to explain our findings, but in order to not prejudice a future inquest we won't be in a position to issue our full findings until it is held."
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