'Warped' TikTok double-murderer 'enthralled' cult of followers with 'tawdry' fame
The “warped” TikTok double-murderer “enthralled” a cult of followers with her "tawdry" fame before she killed two young men to protect her mum's affair.
TikTok and YouTube influencer Mahek Bukhari, 24, and her mum Ansreen Bukhari, 46, were jailed for more than 31 years and 26 years respectively at Leicester Crown Court yesterday. The murderous mum and daughter were sentenced after they ambushed and killed two men during a high speed car chase on the A46 in Leicester on February 11 last year.
Their fellow defendants were also hit with heavy jail sentences after they chased down Saqib Hussain and Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin. Passing the sentence, Judge Spencer addressed the sick daughter and blasted her as “self-obsessed” and “oblivious to the damage you do”.
He explained how Bukhari had decided to “engage some of [her] male followers to beat up Saqib” after he threatened to expose a three year affair he had had with her mother. He said: “Your tawdry fame through your career as an influencer has made you utterly self-obsessed with a wholly unjustified sense of entitlement and no apparent awareness of the impact you have on others, oblivious to the damage you do.
“That your solution to your mothers problems was to engage some of your male followers to beat up Saqib Hussain – ‘jump him’ as you put it – speaks volumes of your warped values and maybe also of the false world of influencing that you so enthusiastically espoused.”
Russian model killed after calling Putin a 'psychopath' was strangled by her exThe court was told how Bukhair was aware of her mother’s lengthy affair with the younger man, and whilst she did “not approve of it” she was “happy to tolerate it”. But when Saqib threatened to tell Ansreen Bukhari’s husband and son, they took extreme measures. The two young men agreed to meet up with them on the pretence Saqib would have the money he spent on Ansreen during the affair, returned.
The judge added: “TikTok and Instagram are at the heart of this case, Mahek Bukhari being a social media influencer. That is the reason you, Mahek, dropped out of university. Had you not done so, you would now be a young graduate with your whole life ahead of you. Now, you constrain yourself to prison for all of your best years."
During the deliberations, the court heard a chilling 999 call from Saqib that he made whilst being chased at 70mph along a dual carriageway. He told the handler: “They are trying to ram me off the road. They are trying to kill me.” It ended with him screaming and the sound of a collision. The victims had to be identified by their dental records.
Along with the mum and daughter, fellow defendants Rekhan Karwan, 29, and Raees Jamal, 23, were also jailed for life with a minimum of 26 years and 10 months and 31 years respectively for two counts of murder – while Natasha Akhtar, 23, was jailed for 11 years and eight months, and Ameer Jamal, 28, and Sanaf Gulamustafa, 23, were jailed for 14 years and eight months and 14 years and nine months respectively for two counts of manslaughter.
Raees Jamal, who is currently serving a prison sentence for rape, must also serve five years on top of the 31 years he was handed on Friday, which is the unexpired portion of his current rape sentence.
Saqib arrived at the car park in a Skoda Fabia, being driven by his friend Mohammed, who had said he would take him to Leicester as a “favour” and was described as "totally innocent" by the judge. CCTV footage showed the Skoda Fabia arrive in the car park and then immediately leave, with the Audi TT and Seat Leon following the Skoda out of the car park two minutes later.
The cars then ultimately ended up in a chase, with analysis by forensic collision investigators showing the Audi had reached speeds of up to 100mph. The speed of the Skoda at the time of the crash, which was not captured on CCTV, was estimated at being in excess of 80mph.
In a victim impact statement read out in court by prosecutor Collingwood Thompson KC, Saqib’s dad Sajad, who was in court surrounded by family, described his son as his “pride and joy”. He said: “The joy Saqib bought into our lives was immeasurable. His beautiful presence was a gift. He brought love and light into the lives of everyone who knew him. He was kind-hearted and selfless, and he was loved by all his friends and family and everyone who knew him.”
He described how Saqib’s mother fell to the floor “crying and screaming ‘my child, my child'”, when they were told by police their son had died. Mohammed’s father Sikander Hayat told the packed courtroom his family had been living a “never-ending nightmare that has shattered our lives”.
Looking at the defendants in the dock, he said: “Hashim was innocent. Totally innocent. One hundred per cent innocent. We are not the same and we have realised we never will be so carefree and happy again. My heart has been ripped out.
Murder suspect 'killed victim's toddler during twisted game of hide and seek'“Why did this happen to him? He did not know his murderers or what awaited him in that Tesco car park. We have lost our son in the worst possible way. The fear he must have felt in the moments leading up to his death. He was left with his friend to burn. It is heart-shattering.”