A Heartbroken grandmother has spoken for the first time following her estranged son-in-law being found guilty on Wednesday of her daughter Nazia Begum’s tragic murder at her home in Bow.
Janahara Begum’s 25-year-old daughter Nazia, who had two children aged three and five, was tied up and battered to death.
She was found with fractured ribs and lacerations to her neck and face in what police said was “a brutal and prolonged attack”.
Her estranged husband Mohammed Anhar Ali covered her body in a sheet after the attack at her home in Ellesmere Road and went to sleep with their two children.
Ali waited several hours, then dialled 999 and told the police operator he had killed his wife, the Old Bailey had been told.
The murder in October has left the Begum family distraught, with two little girls now having to grow up without their mum.
“The day Nazia died was the worst day of our lives,” Janahara Begum said.
“Our hearts are broken beyond repair—we will never be the same again.
“He took away not just my child, but a mother, a sister, a niece, a granddaughter, a cousin and a friend.
“I have to listen to my grandchildren hold each other and cry for their mother every day. How do I explain to a three year old that her mother is dead? That my child is dead?”
Ali, 32, denied murder in court, but was convicted by a jury following evidence of having admitted killing Nazia at her in her home when he made a 999 call.
Police arrived minutes after the call he made at around 05.50am on October 22.
They were met at the door by Ali drinking tea who led them to the living room where Nazia’s body was found on the floor.
Ali admitted he had killed his wife and asked the officers to be quiet as his two young children were sleeping upstairs, the Old Bailey Heard.
Forensic tests revealed that Nazia had been dead several hours before police were called. Ali had killed her nearly six hours earlier, sometime around midnight.
“I took Mohammed in as my son and instead he left my heart empty by taking away my child,” Nazia’s mother added.
“Her little daughters will never see their mother again, never feel their mother’s comfort again and never feel their mother’s love ever again.
“Every day when the children ask me when their mother will come back from Heaven my shattered heart breaks a little more.”
Nazia had decided in 2017 that her two-year marriage to Ali was over and wanted a divorce. The couple had separated and Nazia remained in the marital home at Ellesmere Road from Monday to Friday, while at the weekend taking the children to her mother’s home.
She had begun seeing another man last April. Ali had accused her of having an affair, despite the couple having separated.
Nazia was staying at her mother’s home with the children on October 21 last year when Ali called round and was overheard by Nazia’s sister agreeing to a divorce and repeatedly asking if she was returning home that evening.
Ali then left the mother’s house and bought two knives, some rope, a hammer and a screwdriver at a shop in Bethnal Green Road, according to a shop receipt later recovered by police and CCTV footage.
He went to Nazia’s home in Ellesmere Road and hid in a cupboard, waiting for her to return.
A pathologist established that Nazia had bruising and lacerations to her upper neck and face and fractured ribs thought to have been caused by being kneed in the chest.
There were marks on her ankle and lower shin implying that she had been tied up.
Det Sgt Jake Ellis said: “The breakdown of this relationship is what triggered Ali’s ill feelings towards Nazia. He couldn’t deal with Nazia moving on and another man being part of his children’s lives.
“But to take such ruthless action that deprives two small children of their mother is heartless. The Begum family sadly must now raise Nazia’s children without her.”
The children were taken into care by Tower Hamlets Council after the murder, but are now with family members.
Mohammed Anhar Ali, from of John Cartwright House in Old Bethnal Green Road, is being sentenced at the Old Bailey on April 17.
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