Couple convicted of attempted murder of stepmum

Wasif Hussain, 21, and Nabela Tabassum, 19, are due to be sentenced next month

A husband and wife have been found guilty of attempted murder after they attacked the man's stepmother with a knife and hammer in her kitchen.

Wasif Hussain, 21, and Nabela Tabassum, 19, had denied the charge but were convicted at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday.

The couple put on giraffe masks before the "frenzied attack" at the woman's home in Kings Norton on 29 January last year, West Midlands Police said.

They are believed to have been angered by accusations of not doing chores and treating the home like a hotel, the force added.

During the attack, which was caught on a camera installed at the victim's home, Tabassum restrained her while Hussain hit her head with a hammer, strangled, punched and stabbed her, police said.

The woman was stabbed in the arm but managed to lock herself in a room and call the police.

The couple fled Birmingham afterwards but were tracked down and arrested in Bolton the following day.

"This was a calculated and frenzied attack on a defenceless woman," said Det Insp Laura Allen of West Midlands Police.

"She was very lucky to have managed to get away, lock herself in a room and ring us."

The pair are due to be sentenced at the same court on 21 May.