Derby man jailed for killing partner in 'savage' attack

Sobhia Khan faced "domestic violence on a savage scale", the trial has heard

A man who beat his partner and showed her dead body to his family has been jailed for life.

Ataul Mustafa, 36, from Derby, subjected Sobhia Khan to "domestic violence on a savage scale" at his home before her death in May 2017.

Mustafa, who was found guilty of murder on Tuesday, killed Ms Khan less than two years after serving a hospital order for attacking a former partner.

He was sentenced at Derby Crown Court to serve a minimum of 33 years.

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Ataul Mustafa was described as "sadistic and deceitful"

The court heard Mustafa began beating Ms Khan straight after she moved from Bradford into his Normanton home in April 2017.

During the trial jurors were told 36 recent injuries across her body were discovered, including burns from an iron.

Mrs Justice Carr, sentencing, described Mustafa as "sadistic and deceitful" and a "dangerous" man.

'Narcissistic grooming'

Det Ch Insp Emlyn Richards, from Derbyshire Police, said Mustafa "never accepted any responsibility or provided an account of what happened to Sobhia", and had booked a flight to Pakistan "to avoid taking responsibility for his actions".

"[He] wanted to exert control and power over women," he said.

"His narcissistic and sadistic grooming of Sobhia led her to Derby and within weeks of arriving, she had been tortured over several days and brutally murdered."

Lynsey O'Donnell, a senior crown prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service in the East Midlands, said proving Mustafa's guilt was "not straightforward", but evidence of his behaviour before and after Ms Khan's killing showed he "was in full control of his actions" and that it was "demonstrating a pattern of behaviour".