25 February 2024 , 22:58
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A pregnant lawyer who was pushed over the side of a cliff by her husband has helped jail her killer from beyond the grave.
Fawziyah Javed and her unborn child died after an attack by Kashif Anwar at Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh. The 31-year-old was caught out after a passer by in the area heard Fawziyah speak on the attack while she lay in a critically injured state. She told a passer by: "Don't let my husband near me, he pushed me."
Alex Prentice KC, lead prosecutor, said evidence collated by the victim in the months leading up to the murder was crucial in securing a conviction. Fawziyah had secretly recorded phone calls of Anwar threatening her, and went to police twice to record his abusive behaviour. A second report was made just days before the employment lawyer from Leeds was killed on a weekend away in Edinburgh.
A two-part documentary from Channel 4 has since confirmed a "great deal of evidence" collected by the victim led to the "pillar of the prosecution case," according to prosecutor Prentice. He added: "The evidence of what Fawziyah said was crucial. It was effectively Fawziyah speaking to the jury. I have prosecuted many murder cases over the course of my career but for a variety of reasons this case is extraordinary."
Kashif Anwar may not have been found guilty if it were not for evidence collected by Fawziyah (PA)Prentice, speaking to the documentary team behind The Push, added it would have been "very difficult" to find Anwar guilty without the evidence, as reported by The Sun. A friend and colleague of Fawziyah known only as Ingrid added: "She built this massive mountain of evidence culminating with giving a statement to the police on the verge of her dying.
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"The fact she was a lawyer with all the legal training, I do think she must have thought about leaving this evidence behind. I remember feeling like she died like a lawyer." Fawziyah's mother, Yasmin Javed, worried if Anwar was acquitted he would go on to kill again, and was hopeful he would be "punished".
She said: "He has got to be punished. He can't do this to another family, I can't have another family going through this." Anwar had been heard speaking to a 999 operator at the time of Fawziyah's death. He had said: "Fawziyah's just on the edge of the cliff, man. We both just slipped, I tried grabbing her arm and she fell. We both technically slipped and then I tried grabbing her arm and she went sideways."