Hina Bashir: Obsessive man jailed for killing student found in suitcase

Hina Bashir's body was found in a suitcase near an industrial estate in east London

A man who suffocated a student he was obsessed with before dumping her body in an alleyway inside a suitcase has been jailed for life.

Muhammad Arslan, 27, killed Hina Bashir in a fit of jealousy at his flat in Ilford, east London, last year.

The court heard how Arslan fantasised over Ms Bashir since first communicating with her when she was 11, but she rejected his advances.

He was sentenced at the Old Bailey to life with a minimum term of 20 years.

In an impact statement Ms Bashir's father, Bashir Khan, spoke of his "beautiful, bubbly girl", adding that "animals would treat my daughter better".

"He treated her in a heinous and brutal way," he said.

Muhammad Arslan was jailed for life

The court heard how both Arslan, of Ilford, and Ms Bashir grew up in the same village in Pakistan and they began communicating via text when he was 17, with Ms Bashir six years his junior.

It was said that Arslan told Ms Bashir: "How wonderful it is that I have found my princess in the house right next to mine."

However, Ms Bashir rejected his advances and had a boyfriend in Pakistan, the court heard.

In November 2021 she moved to the UK to study business management at Coventry University's London campus, while Arslan followed a few months later and enrolled as a master's student at the University of Essex.

The jury was told he had already earned a masters degree from the University of Faisalabad and gave up his job as a manager of a pharmacy to make the move to the UK.

On 11 July last year, Ms Bashir went with two female friends to Arslan's Ilford flat to collect some items she had left while moving, but after her friends departed she was never seen alive again.

Judge Richard Marks KC said Arslan's "unrequited feelings" for Ms Bashir "boiled over and resulted in you taking hold of a facemask and forcing it into the back of her mouth", which led to her passing out and dying from asphyxiation.

Hina Bashir moved to the UK to study business management at Coventry University's London campus in 2021

Following the killing, Arslan stuffed her body into a large suitcase and discarded it in a lane near Upminster.

Upon his arrest investigators examined the defendant's phone and found that he had declared his love for Ms Bashir on numerous occasions and was shocked when he discovered she had found someone else.

In his defence, Arslan claimed he confronted Ms Bashir over nude photos of her that he had been sent and had only meant to quieten her.

The prosecution rejected his story, labelling it "elaborate and concocted", and said he had murdered her out of anger and jealousy.

Following the sentencing, Det Ch Insp Dave Whellams said: "Arslan was obsessed with Hina to the point that he told people they were engaged and said they should have children together. This relationship was completely in his mind.

"Once Arslan had murdered Hina he did everything he could to cover his tracks but the evidence gathered by our team left no doubt in our mind as to his guilt."

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