The prosecution is expected to put forward its case in the trial of a TikTok star and seven others who are alleged to have killed two
Friends by forcing their car off the road. Influencer Mahek Bukhari, who had more than 126,000 followers on the
Social Media site, and her mother Ansreen are among the eight on trial for murder. Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin and Saqib Hussain died after a crash on the A46 in Leicestershire in the early hours of February 11, last year. The pals, who lived in Banbury, Oxfordshire, were pronounced dead at the scene. All the defendants were charged with murder following an investigation by Leicestershire Police, but all eight have denied the charge. They are due back at Leicester Crown Court today (Monday, April 24) for the third day of a new trial, LeicestershireLive reports . The trial, before Judge Timothy Spencer KC, is expected to last about nine weeks. The eight defendants are Natasha Akhtar, 22, of Alum Rock Road, Birmingham; Ansreen Bukhari, 45, of George Eardley Close, Stoke; Mahek Bukhari, 23, of George Eardley Close, Stoke; Raees Jamal, 22, of Lingdale Close, Loughborough; Rekan Karwan, 28, of Tomlin Road, Leicester; Mohammed Patel, 20, of Braybrooke Road, Leicester; Sanaf Gulammustafa, 22, of Littlemore Close, Crown Hills, Leicester; Ammeer Jamal, 27, of Catherine Street, Belgrave, Leicester. You'll find the latest court updates posted below as they happen. You can also stay up-to-date by following our
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BREAKING news emailed to you, sign up here , it's free. 13:01 Tom Mack Jury shown the first of several CCTV clips Before the lunch break, the jury is shown footage from a camera just outside the Bukhari house in Stoke on Trent. The camera has a clear view of their driveway. Mahek and her mother left their home at about 11.30pm on February 10. The trial will no break until 2pm. Share 12:53 Tom Mack Hashim Ijazuddin in the wrong place at the wrong time At about 11pm Saqib and Hashim left Banbury to head to Leicestershire, phone mast data suggests. Mr Thompson said Hashim was only helping Saqib and was "in the wrong place at the wrong time". He added: "Doing a favour for Sadiq Hussein turned out to be a tragic and fatal mistake." Share 12:51 Tom Mack Saqib agreed to pick the money up at Leicester but needed a lift Saqib needed to get to Leicester and he approached his friends when they were meeting up outside a Co-op in Banbury, Oxfordshire. Eventually it was agreed that Hashim Ijazuddin, who Saqib had known since they were at school together, would drive him. His friends later told
police that they were all aware of Saqib's relationship with Ansreen because he had discussed it with them. The friends also suggested to Saqib that the meeting could be some kind of set-up. Mr Thompson said: "Saqib's attitude was to laugh off the suggestion this was a set-up." Share 12:40 Tom Mack Crash victims were lured to Leicestershire On the evening of February 10 at 8.11pm Saqib sent the message threatening to go to Stoke and visit the Bukhari home. At 8.49pm Mahek sent a message back saying: "Come Loughborugh. I've made ways there to collect money." A further message suggests Leicester instead of Loughborough. Mr Thompson said: "Why Loughborough? Loughborough was where Raees Jamal was living. Obviously what's now said is to come to meet in Leicester and they did all meet in Leicester. Share 12:37 Tom Mack Saqib tried to get the money sent electronically then threatened to go to Bukhari family home Saqib told Mahek Bukhari he wanted the £3,000 sent to his bank account and said he would then go to
Pakistan for six months and that the wouldn't hear from him again. But the money wasn't sent. Another message to Mahek suggested Saqib was going to go to their house in Stoke to confront them and get the money. Mr Thompson said there was then the "obvious risk" Ansreen's husband would be at home and find out what was going on. Share 12:27 Tom Mack Raees Jamal's involvement Mr Thompson said Raees Jamal was told about the problem and he "recruited others to help him" get Saqib's phone - containing the explicit pictures and videos - off him. They included Natasha Akhtar "whose car was used as the fatal weapon," Mr Thompson said. Mr Thomspon said: "Between them all they set a trap for Saqib Hussein. The idea was to lure him into a meeting and ambush him. No doubt they hoped he might just hand the phone over. "If not, they could cause Saqib Hussein serious harm to silence him." He said there were various calls between Raees Jamal and Rekan Karwan and between Raees Jamal and Mahek Bukari. Raees called other defendants on the day of the meeting on February 10. Share 12:15 Tom Mack Sister's warning over trip to pick up money On February 9 Saqib managed to get through to Ansreen Bukhari. Saqib's sister, Sana, heard her brother telling Ansreen he loved her and didn't blame her for the split. Ansreen was heard by Saqib's sister saying Saqib would have to collect the money from "a boy". Mr Thompson said: "Sana warned Saqib that this could be a set-up, that he could be beaten up. Her fears were in fact more than justified." Share 12:10 Tom Mack Plan to set a trap Mr Thompson said their solution was to "set a trap". He said: "It would seem one objective in setting the trap must have been to seize the phone on which must be the incriminating pictures and videos. "But even doing that he could send a message to Ansreen Bukhari's husband. So bearing that in mind the plan that was hatched must have caused a plan to cause really serious harm if not to kill Saqib Hussein. "The revelation of that affair could have ruin Ansreen's marriage, damaged her reputation and could also have impacted on Mahek's relationship with her father. "Further, Mahek Bukhari was an influencer on social media and the revelation of that affair might even have caused damage to her standing as an influencer. "These were the motive for the killing of Saqib Hussein and Hashim Ijazuddin." Share 12:10 Tom Mack Problem of the sexually explicit videos Mr Thompson said Mahek and Ansreen had a problem because even if they paid Saqib off he would still have explicit pictures and videos of Ansreen. Share 12:06 Tom Mack 'Yo, stop messaging her' Rekan Karwan said in a message to Saqib that he should text him about the exchange and that Saqib should not try to contact Mahek and her mother. Mr Karwan said in one message: "Yo, stop messaging her." Saqib told Karwan he wanted to talk to Ansreen and asked Karwan to get Mahek - known as May - to have her mother call him. He said: "I need to speak to her mum." But Karwan replied: "If May tells me you're still contacting her then no one gets paid." Mr Thompson said "it was no credit" to Saqib that he was blackmailing Mahek and Ansreen and was "probably guilty of harassment", too. Share 12:00 Tom Mack Calls between Saqib and Rekan Karwan about payment It is not known what was said but after several failed calls from Rekan Karwan to Saqib, Saqib called back and there was a four-minute conversation between the two. Later there was a six-minute conversation. Mr Thompson said other messages suggested their conversations were about money. A message from Saqib to Ansreen said: "Can you call me before things really get out of hand. You're daughter's handing out my number to mans." Another message from Saqib to Mahek said: "Okay. I'll give the proof to him. Get him to send the money." Mr Thompson said Saqib was going to show Rekan Karwan proof that he had spend the £3,000 and Ansreen would then pay the money back to Saqib. Mr Thompson said Rekan Karwan was a friend of Mahek Bukhari. He said: "Mr Karwan played a central role in what happened." Share 11:55 Tom Mack Demands for money - Rekan Karwan gets involved Mr Thompson said Saqib had spent a lot of money on Ansreen over their three-year relationship. Ansreen said in a message to Saqib she asked how much he had spent so she could repay him. He calculated it was about £3,000. It was during the discussions about money that another of the defendants first got involved. Mobile phone data shows that Rekan Karwan called Saqib four times on February 8 - three days before the crash. Share 11:30 Tom Mack "I'll soon get him jumped by guys and he won't know what day it is." Mahek said in one message to her mother about Saqib: "I'll soon get him jumped by guys and he won't know what day it is." A further message added: "You little narcisstic bastard. I know what game you're playing. You'll get the message soon. You'll see movement soon." She also told him: "This year you'll be gone." Share 11:28 Tom Mack Mahek Bukhari's involvement Mr Thompson said Ansreen Bukhari confided in her daughter, TikTok influencer Mahek Bukhari. The jury is shown the text of
WhatsApp messages between Saqib and Mahek. There was a "certain amount of hostility" between the two because Mahek knew Saqib had threatened her mother, Mr Thompson said. After Saqib told Mahek to get her mother to call him, she replied: "She aint a dog. Don't raise your voice and tell me what to do." Share 11:24 Tom Mack The blackmail threats Mr Thompson describes some of the threats crash victim Saqib Hussein made to Ansreen Bukhari. Messages from his
Instagram account show a message from January 4, 2022. Saqib says: "I'll tell him" meaning her husband. On January 12 he said: "You know what I'm capable of. I'm going to send him one nude of you first". By January 25 he was sending a number of messages threatening to tell her husband "everything". She offered to pay back the money he had spent in the relationship. She also responded to threats saying "Do it" and also threatened to call the police on Saqib. Mr Thompson said: "If she had we wouldn't be here dealing with these allegations of murder." Share 11:20 Tom Mack Saqib didn't want the affair to end Mr Thompson said: "By January 2022 Ansreen Bukhari wished to end the affair. He, unfortunately, could not accept that decision." Messages were sent by Saqib to Ansreen Bukhari begging her not to end the relationship. Mr Thompson said he became angry and "took to attempting to blackmail Ansreen Bukhari to persuade her to contact him." Share 11:18 Tom Mack Saqib's
iPhone backed up to the cloud shows 1,702 contacts from Saqib to Ansreen Bukhari Mr Thompson said that while Saqib's phone had been destroyed in the crash on February 11 last year, his data was uploaded to the cloud. The police also obtained Ansreen Bukhari's phone and recovered data from that, too. The phone records showed that in the period from August 2021 until February 2022 Saqib Hussein contacted Ansreen Bukhari 1,702 times. She contacted him 214 times. They had been having an affair for "something like three years" Mr Thompson said. He added it was also clear from sexually explicit pictures and videos of the couple proved the relationship was sexual. Mr Thompson said: "The existence of that material and what it could do led to the murder of these two young men." Share 11:14 Tom Mack Relationship started out as 'just a bit of fun' Mr Thompson said Saqib had an on-off relationship with Ansreen Bukhari but later told friends he was in love with her. In August 2020 Saqib and a friend went to a
London club with Ansreen and Mahek Bukhari. Mr Thompson said: "As events turned out, it may well be that Saqib's view of the relationship was very different from how Ansreen viewed it." He said the end of the relationship was what "led up to the murders". Share 11:12 Tom Mack Case is "a story of love, obsession, extortion and ultimately cold-blooded murder" Leicestershire Police began their investigation straight away and Mr Thompson said: "It revealed a story of love, obsession, extortion and ultimately cold-blooded murder. "But to understand how it happened we need to go back in time." Mr Thompson said Saqib's sister told police that her brother had been in a relationship with an older woman in her 40s. Saqib's sister knew the woman - Ansreen Bukhari - had a husband and children including Mahek Bukhari. Share 11:08 Tom Mack 999 call ends abruptly The caller is told help is being arranged. He says his name is Saqib Hussein and he lives in Banbury. He said: "I came to see one of my mates - he goes to the university here - and get some food." Then he becomes more frantic and says: "They're hitting into the back of the car very fast. Please, I'm begging you, I'm going to die." He then screams and the call ends. Mr Thompson said: "Once the police knew about this a major investigation commenced." Share 11:05 Tom Mack 999 call played - 'They're trying to ram me off the road' The jury hears the frantic call from the Skoda containing the two crash victims. The police operator is told: "I'm being followed by two vehicles and they're trying to block me in. "I can't get to a police station - I need help right now. There's guys following me. They've got balaclavas on. "They're trying to ram me off the road. They're trying to kill me - I'm going to die." Share 11:02 Tom Mack "The police knew something the onlookers did not" While it looked like an accident, police in Leicester "knew something the onlookers did not", Mr Thompson said. In fact, by 9.30am that day three of the defedants - Mahek and Ansreen Bukhari and Natasha Akhtar - had been arrested on suspicion of murder. That was due to a 999 call that had been made to the police. "It explains why the police knew that this was no traffic accident but cold-blooded murder." The jury is now listening to the 999 call. Share 10:59 Tom Mack Bodywarn camera footage shown to the jury The bodyworn camera captured the scene after the
fire had grown. The Skoda Fabia containing the two crash victims is seen burning next to a tree. Mr Thompson said: "By then the fire had become really intense. No one could approach that vehicle." Share 10:57 Tom Mack It looked like a "tragic road accident" Mr Thompson said that the single crashed vehicle appeared to be a "tragic road accident" but no one who had stopped at the scene had witnessed the collision. The jury is now going to be played some dashcam footage. The first clip is from a vehicle on the southbound side, travelling past the burning car as the fire begins. Mr Thompson said: "You can see the car was pretty well destroyed. In fact it was split in two. "You can see the fire just starting and the debris on the carriageway." Share 10:54 Tom Mack More police arrive Mr Thompson said two other officers arrived at the scene from the Syston direction and the fire service arrived to extinguish the fire. Only at that point did the police officers see the body. "It turned out tragically that two young men, both aged 21, had been killed from the impact of the vehicle with the tree." Share 10:53 Tom Mack Police get to the scene The police spotted the fire and drove to the area. "By the time they got there the vehicle was well alight and because of the intensity of the fire it could not be safely approached. It was believed at that stage that there were no occupants in the vehicle." Share 10:52 Tom Mack Jury told about the prosecution's case against the eight defendants Mr Thompson tells the jury that on Friday, February 11 last year, just after midnight, a recovery driver went from Nottingham to East Goscote in Leicestershire to deliver a car. As he headed home up the A46 at about 1am that day he noticed debris on the carriageway. "He then saw there was a car on fire next to a tree on the central reservation of the dual carriageway," Mr Thompson said. "He was unable to identify whether there was anyone inside that vehicle. He took the decision to block off the dual carriageway." The recovery truck driver was told by another motorist at the scene that no one was inside the vehicle. Police soon arrived from both directions. Share 10:48 Tom Mack Lots of evidence about vehicle movements, too Mr Thompson tells the jury about the CCTV footage and numberplate-reading ANPR camera data that recorded the movements of the cars involved during the night. Lastly, the jury is told about a collection of photographs and maps relevant to the case that are also in their folders. Share 10:43 Tom Mack Lots of phone records among the documents There are pages of phone calls between the defendants and also between victim Saqib Hussein and defendant Ansreen Bukhari, Mr Thompson said. He added: "They show who is speaking to each other at what time and you can relate these to what happened." Share 10:38 Tom Mack Jury shown photographs of the two dead men The folder of documents includes photographers of Saqib Hussein and Hashim Ijazuddin, the two victims, as well as their dates of birth. Both men were 21 when they died on February 11. Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin (left) and Saqib Hussain died at the scene of the crash on the A46 on February 11 last year (Image: Leicestershire Police) Share