IN AUGUST 2023, a social media influencer and her mother were found guilty of murdering two men.
Saqib Hussain and Hashim Ijazuddin, both 21, were killed when their car was rammed off the road.
In 2022, 21-year-old Saqib Hussain and his friend Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin, also 21, were found dead in a burning car following a high-speed chase in Leicestershire.
Their bodies were so badly burnt, their families could not identify them.
In the minutes leading up to the crash Saqib made a harrowing 999 call.
He said: “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.”
After giving his name to the operator, Saqib then begged: “They’re hitting into the back of the car very fast.
“Please, I’m begging you, I’m going to die.”
He could then be heard screaming before the callcut off.
Moments later, the Skoda Fabia the friends were travelling in smashed into a tree on a central reservation and “split in two”.
In August 2023, TikTok influencer Mahek Bukhari and her mother Ansreen Bukhari, both from Stoke on Trent, were convicted of murder.
The mum and daughter created a web of lies and deceit after mum Ansreen had embarked on an ill-fated affair.
When Saqib Hussain threatened to expose the relationship to Ansreen’s husband, the mother and daughter hatched a murderous plot to silence her young lover.
Ansreen, met 18-year-old Saqib on live- stream platform Azar.
During the course of their three-year relationship, the pair regularly met up for sexual trysts in hotels located in Birmingham and London – until she tried to break off the relationship in January 2022.
Saqib was then rejected by Ansreen and it was claimed he tried to blackmail Ansreen by threatening to send nude pictures of her to her son and husband, unless she returned the money he had spent on her.
The mum and daughter then planned to set a trap which later saw Saqib and his pal Mohammed Hashim killed.
The pair arranged to meet Saqib in a supermarket car park in Leicester, with Saqib arriving at the meeting point with driver and school friend Mohammed Hashim.
After realising the meeting was an ambush, Saqib made a call to police just minutes before the fatal crash took place.
Saqib’s dad believes his son, who was around 18 when the affair started, was effectively “groomed” by mum-of-two Ansreen.
Sajad said: “It would have been his first serious relationship. I think he fully trusted her.
“He was so young. It might not have been illegal, but it was still grooming, I think. She is older than his own mother. She should have known better.”
Both women denied two counts of murder and two counts of manslaughter.
The pair were found guilty of double murder following a three-month trial at Leicester Crown Court in August 2023.
Mahek was jailed for life and ordered to serve at least 31 years and eight months.
Her mother, Ansreen, was also jailed for life and given a minimum term of 26 years and nine months.
Fellow defendants Rekan Karwan, and Raees Jamal, who were recruited by the Bukharis and who were driving the pursuing cars, were also jailed for life, with a minimum of 26 years and ten months and 31 years respectively.
Jamal has also been convicted of a rape in a separate case, so his minimum term has been increased to 36 years and 45 days.
Three others were also found guilty of manslaughter.
Natasha Akhtar was jailed for 11 years and eight months, while Ameer Jamal, and Sanaf Gulamustafa, were jailed for 14 years and eight months and 14 years and nine months respectively.
One of the eight people charged was acquitted.
