Summary

  • A TikTok influencer and her mother have been sentenced to life in prison for murdering two men who died when their car was rammed off the road

  • Mahek Bukhari, 24, will serve a minimum of 31 years and eight months in prison and her mother Ansreen Bukhari, 46, will serve 26 years and nine months

  • Passing sentence, Judge Timothy Spencer KC said "TikTok and Instagram lie at the heart of the case", calling it one of "cold-blooded murder"

  • Saqib Hussain and Hashim Ijazuddin, both 21, from Oxfordshire, were killed in a crash near Leicester in February last year

  • Hussain had threatened to reveal a long-running affair he and Ansreen Bukhari had been having

  • Rekan Karwan, 29, and Raees Jamal, 23, who were recruited by the Bukharis and were driving the pursuing cars, have also been jailed for life for murder

  • Natasha Akhtar, 23, Ameer Jamal, 28, and Sanaf Gulamustafa, 23, were cleared of murder but found guilty of two counts of manslaughter

Live Reporting

Edited by Dulcie Lee and Jemma Crew

  1. 'I've never felt pain like this, my son was innocent'

    Later this morning we heard from Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin's father, who described the “heart-wrenching moment” they found out his son had been killed.

    Ijazuddin had driven his friend Saqib Hussain to meet their killers as a favour.

    "My son, he was like a superstar,” Sikander Hayat said. “It was virtually impossible for me to write this, so someone has written it for me.

    "My family have been living in a nightmare. We will never be as happy and care-free as we once were.

    “I have never felt pain like this. He wore many hats and touched many lives. His short life was torn away in the most brutal way possible.

    Turning to the dock, Sikander added: “Hashim was innocent, totally innocent.”

  2. He didn't deserve to come home in a body bag - Hussain's family

    Earlier this morning, we heard some powerful victim impact statements which were read out in court.

    First, we heard from Saqib Hussain's family via the prosecuting barrister, who said they were "scarred for life".

    “As parents, we now live our own life sentence for losing our son,” prosecutor Patrick Upward KC told the court on behalf of the family.

    "He will never get to see his nieces and nephews or his siblings get married.

    "He did not deserve to die or come back home in a body bag after being in a morgue for two weeks."

  3. £3,000 and an affair: What led up to the crash?

    The killings happened after Saqib Hussain threatened to use sexually explicit material to expose a long-running affair he and Ansreen Bukhari had been having.

    Prosecutors told the trial he had been "lured" into meeting his killers on the pretence he would be given back £3,000 he said he had spent on taking his lover out.

    Hussain was driven to the supposed meeting in a Tesco carpark in Leicester by his friend and fellow victim Hashim Ijazuddin as a favour.

    But, instead the pair were ambushed and then chased by two cars before the fatal crash.

  4. TikToker and mother to be sentenced for murders

    Dulcie Lee
    Live reporter

    Mugshots of Mahek Bukhari and Ansreen BukhariLeicestershire Constabulary

    Mahek Bukhari (left) and her mother Ansreen Bukhari (right)

    A TikTok influencer and her mother will soon be sentenced for murdering two men during a high-speed car chase.

    Saqib Hussain and Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin were killed when their car “split in two” after it was deliberately rammed off the A46 near Leicester.

    Last month, content creator Mahek Bukhari, 24, and her mother Ansreen Bukhari, 46, were found guilty of two counts of murder.

    The court heard Mahek "set a trap" for Hussain on the night he died, after he threatened to use sexually explicit material to expose an affair he had with her mother Ansreen.

    Rekhan Karwan, 29, and Raees Jamal, 23, were also found guilty of two counts of murder – while Natasha Akhtar, 23, Ameer Jamal, 28, and Sanaf Gulamustafa, 23, were all found not guilty of murder, but guilty of two counts of manslaughter.

    Stay with us as our team at court bring you their sentences and the judge’s comments.