'Re-open suspicious fall deaths' urge family of tragic Arthur's Seat victim
Relatives of a pregnant woman pushed to her death by her evil husband have spoken of their agony as they joined calls to re-investigate other suspicious fall deaths.
Fawziyah Javed, 31, was murdered by her husband Kashif Anwar who pushed her from Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh. The couple had been on a trip to the capital in September 2021 when he killed her, with brave Fawziyah revealing what he had done in her final words.
Anwar, from Pudsey, Leeds, was jailed for 20 years last year after he was convicted of her murder, despite claiming the fall had been an accident as he stood up to take a selfie from the viewpoint. The court heard he had been controlling and abusive to promising young lawyer Fawziyah, and that she had told him she wanted to end the marriage.
Now her family have spoken of their pain knowing their beloved daughter and niece suffered in silence. Fawziyah's uncle Shahid Farouk, 53, said "she would have been alive today" had he known of Anwar's abuse.
The 31-year-old had been 17 weeks pregnant at the time of her death (UGC)
Fawziyah, pictured as a child, was a promising young employment lawyer (UGC)Mr Farouk had sent his beloved neice a well-meant text advising her to "work on your marriage" after the wedding. Now, looking back, he told The Sun that if he'd known, “I would have brought Fawziyah home. Over my dead body would I have let her go back.”
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His heartbreaking words come as Channel 4 this week airs a new documentary series The Push: Murder on the Cliff about the horrific case. Fawziyah fell 50ft after being shoved, and told Samaritans as she lay dying: “Don't let my husband near me, he pushed me.”
Since her tragic death, Fawziyah's family have joined the national Killed Women campaign spearheaded by loved ones of other victims of femicide. Currently, in the UK, two women are killed every week at the hands of a current or former partner.
An investigation carried out by expert criminologist Jane Monkton Smith looked into fifty-one female falls from height between 2009 and 2021, with 27 deemed suspicious by police. Of those, 21 arrests were made, charges were brought in six and convictions secured in five. Of the 17 that led to death, there were just two convictions for manslaughter and one for murder.
Fawziyah's mother Yasmin Javed has called for a review of suspicious fall deaths (PA)However, 42 out of the country's 44 police forces requested to provide data on suspicious falls through Freedom of Information were unable to do. The requests, submitted by Killed Women, came as part of a joint call for suspicious falls to be re-investigated over whether they involved a history of domestic abuse.
Yasmin Javed, Fawziyah Javed’s mother and member of Killed Women network said: “Domestic abusers will continue to get away with murder if we don’t ensure the cases of so-called fallen women are rigorously investigated by authorities. We must have a system that delivers justice for these women.
“The conviction will never heal the grief of losing our beautiful Fawziyah, but we are campaigning to ensure that all those who murder women in this way are held to account”. Calls for a review of suspicious fall deaths to be re-investigated were backed by Domestic Abuse Commissioner Nicole Jacobs, who urged detectives to "join the dots".
“Police, forensic specialists and the whole justice system must look seriously at the wider context to these deaths, taking the time to understand any history of domestic abuse, and join the dots," she said. “National government and justice system leaders must get to grips with all domestic abuse-related deaths, including “hidden homicides”, and do everything in their power to deliver justice for victims and their loved ones.”
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