Bromsgrove woman's grave 'missed by police diggers'

Zobaidah Salangy was reported missing in March 2020

The body of a woman allegedly murdered by her husband was not found for more than six months when a police dig did not go deep enough, a court heard.

Nezam Salangy is on trial at Worcester Crown Court accused of killing Zobaidah Salangy in March 2020 and burying her in woodland.

His brothers, Mohammed Yasin and Mohammed Ramin Salangy, are accused of helping him to conceal the crime.

All three deny the offences.

Opening the trial on Tuesday, prosecutor Simon Denison QC said Mrs Salangy's body was initially missed during a police dig near Lower Bentley, Worcestershire, in April 2020.

Because of this, he said, it had been impossible to determine the 28-year-old's exact cause of death.

He added a hard layer of soil had been mistaken for a natural base below which no-one would dig, but police - "convinced she must be there" - returned to the spot in October 2020 and discovered Mrs Salangy's remains.

Curtain wire and bin bags

The jury heard she was found bound in curtain wire and wrapped in black bin bags along with a duvet cover, which matched pillow cases at the couple's home on Talbot Road, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire.

Her phone, the court was told, was found hidden in the pizza shop run by her husband, 44, together with a second phone that police claim he used to make arrangements with his brothers to conceal the killing.

Mr Salangy's fingerprints were found on a box containing both phones, the trial heard.

Mohammed Ramin Salangy, 31, and Mohammed Yasin Salangy, 33, are alleged to have travelled 90 miles by cab from their home in Cardiff, Wales, to help bury Mrs Salangy.

The court heard her husband later reported she was missing to police, telling them "she had gone out for a run and never come back", leaving him for a "new boyfriend".

Mr Denison said the day before Mrs Salangy's disappearance, the couple had "argued", an event partly recorded by Mr Salangy on his phone.

In the recording, both said "their relationship was over", Mr Denison added.

Jurors heard Mrs Salangy had been a maths teacher in Afghanistan and had an arranged marriage with Mr Salangy in November 2012, moving to the UK in October 2013.

Mr Denison said the evidence against all three men was "circumstantial", but "the overall picture of what these defendants did becomes absolutely clear".

The trial continues.