Shafilea Ahmed Was Killed By Her Parents For Refusing Arranged Marriage

Shafilea Ahmed, like many other girls her age, aspired to break free from her parents, attend university, and build a successful career.

Shafilea, however, was pulled between two cultures, unlike other teenagers in the UK. Her parents, a Pakistani couple from the small village of Uttam in the Gujrat region, wanted her to marry a cousin in his late twenties, a decade her senior, and become a devoted wife, potentially never returning to the UK.

The Ahmeds' intelligent and rebellious eldest daughter desired to wear western clothes like her friends, have boyfriends she selected, and be free to associate with whoever she pleased. Unfortunately for her, the two traditions were heading in opposite directions. In the months leading up to her murder, she was the subject of tremendous violence at the hands of her parents as she fought their attempts to control her.

Shafilea frequently denied their requests for an arranged marriage, bringing shame on the family in her parents' eyes.

Her parents' aggression worsened in the months leading up to her murder, and she was routinely held down and assaulted by both of them.

It was a horrible life, but her parents were determined to maintain the impression of normalcy and conceal the abuse from the school, social services, and police. If embarrassing questions were raised, the Ahmeds would say they were victims of racial prejudice.

Shafilea was eventually murdered for her resistance. According to her sister Alesha's testimony, her mother Farzana gave her husband the final command, "Let's finish it here," and they shoved a plastic carrier bag into her mouth while she sat on a settee at the family home, obstructing her airways and smothering her to death.

The Beginning

Shafilea Ahmed was born in July 1986 in Bradford, West Yorkshire, while her taxi driver father was still married to a Danish woman with whom he had a son.

After giving in to pressure from a relative in Pakistan, he married Farzana, his cousin - ironically, his own arranged marriage. Soon after her birth, her family relocated to Warrington, a town with a tiny but well-established Asian community.

Before she was 11 and ran away from home for the first time, her life was uneventful. It was a cycle that she repeated as she grew older and tried to build an independent existence.

Shafilea's parents did not notify police when she went missing for the last time in September 2003. Joanne Code, a teacher at Great Sankey High School, overheard her younger siblings discussing her disappearance. A week later, on September 18, police were called in and a search was undertaken. Neither parent attempted to contact her by phone, in contrast to other situations when she had gone missing and they had called her frequently.

When police asked her father why he hadn't reported her missing, he stated that when he contacted them earlier when Shafilea was missing, they informed him she was 16 and there was nothing they could do. 

Following Shafilea's disappearance, police issued public appeals, first treating it as a missing persons investigation.

Investigation Into Her Disappearance Continues

A hidden listening device was installed in the family home two months following her disappeared. Her father was caught saying that the system in the UK relies on proof, and "without proof, even if you sisterfuckers kill 40 people, till it is found, they can't do anything to you". The gadget also captured the Ahmeds talking about what would happen if the police discovered Biological evidence in the car.

In February 2004, her body was discovered. During a flood, workers discovered her skeletal and decayed bones beside the river Kent in Sedgwick, Cumbria.

Her attire and dental records helped identify her.

Investigation of Her Death

The corpse was purposefully hidden, according to police, and her parents recognized a gold "zigzag" bracelet and blue topaz ring recovered with the body. The cause of death could not be determined by the coroner due to the severe decomposition of her remains.

Ahmed was the victim of a horrible murder, according to the coroner's report in January 2008. Her relatives walked out of the inquest without saying anything. After the inquest, her parents attempted unsuccessfully to have the verdict of illegal killing reversed and replaced by an open verdict; her father contended that the coroner's perspective was "biased".

Conviction of The Parents

Ahmed's younger sister Alesha organized a robbery at her parents' house on August 25, 2010, while she, her brother, sisters, and parents were present. She was apprehended and informed cops that her parents had murdered Ahmed.

She informed investigators that her parents were terrified that her reluctance to accept the arranged marriage would bring shame on the family, so her father put a plastic bag in Ahmed's mouth and choked her to death.