Influencer Mahek Bukhari, 23, GUILTY of murdering mum's lover in fireball crash after he blackmailed

Publish date: 2024-05-10

A TIKTOK influencer has been found guilty of murdering her mum's lover in a horror crash after he blackmailed her with sex tapes.

Mahek Bukhari, 23, and her mum Ansreen Bukhari, 45, hatched the gruesome plot to "silence" Saqib Hussain, 21, by luring him with cash.

He was killed in a 100mph fireball crash alongside his pal Hashim Ijazuddin after their Skoda was rammed off the road in Leicestershire.

Mahek and Ansreen have now been found guilty of murder at Leicester Crown Court after 28 hours of jury deliberation.

They faced a retrial alongside six others after jurors previously failed to reach verdicts at their original trial.

Jurors were told the horror smash was "no ordinary traffic accident".

Instead, it was a "story of love, obsession, extortion and, ultimately, cold-blooded murder".

Saqib had been in a relationship with married Ansreen for about three years and "appeared to be in love" with her.

During the illicit tryst, he splurged £3,000 on Ansreen, who he called "Anzy", on date nights.

By January 2022, the mum was trying to end the relationship but "increasingly obsessive" Saqib would not accept it was over.

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As a result, he "took to attempting to blackmail Ansreen" by threatening to send their sex tapes to her husband.

On January 4, Mahek Bukhari sent her mum a message which read: "I'll get him jumped by guys and he won't know what day it is."

The TikTok influencer also messaged her mum's ex-lover, telling him: "I am sorry that this year you'll be gone, Saqib."

She and her mum hatched a plot to "silence" Saqib with her mum by luring him in with the offer of getting his £3,000 back.

On February 10, he was driven by "completely innocent" friend Hashim to collect the cash from Leicester.

Shortly after, Saqib made a harrowing 999 call in the minutes leading up to the crash.

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 begs: "They're hitting into the back of the car very fast.

"Please, I'm begging you, I'm going to die."

He can then be heard screaming before the clip cuts off.

Moments later, the Skoda Fabia the friends were travelling in smashed into a tree on a central reservation and "split in two".

Footage has now been released by police showing how brazen Bukhari spun a web of lies to officers after the horror.

Just four hours after the crash, police had attended the family home in Stoke-On-Trent to arrest the pair.

Bukhari, wearing a pink fluffy hoodie, can be seen perched on the edge of the sofa as she tells officers: "So at first we stayed here then we went straight to Nottingham."

When asked if they went in her Audi TT, she agreed with police.

But Bukhari and her mum hadn't been to Nottingham at all but instead joined the other defendants in murdering Saqib and Mohammed.

Ansreen Bukhari and Mahek Bukhari denied two counts of murder and two alternate counts of manslaughter.

Fellow defendants Rekhan Karwan and Raees Jamal were also today found guilty of two counts of murder.

Natasha Akhtar, Ameer Jamal and Sanaf Gulamustafa were all found not guilty of murder, but guilty of two counts of manslaughter.

Mohammed Patel was found not guilty of murder or manslaughter.

The family of Saqib Hussain have paid tribute to him following the conviction of his killers.

In a statement issued through Leicestershire Police, they said: "Saqib was a much-loved young man. He was kind, compassionate, caring and sensible.

"My family has been shattered by this senseless act and we are still struggling to come to terms with the enormity of our loss. I do not feel that we have received justice as we have now got a life sentence.

"We are grateful that the courts saw through all the lies attributed to my son Saqib. Thank God the jury saw through it and gave the verdicts our children deserve.

"Saqib's death has brought so much sadness, not just to his family, but to the many people that knew him. I would like to thank those that have, and continue, to provide overwhelming support to our family.

"A special thank you must also go to the police and CPS, our family liaison officers, our victim support officer, our local schools and the local mosque.

"I never imagined that I would have to bury one of my children; that I would spend every waking moment suddenly expecting him to come back and tell me everything is OK; endlessly searching for his face whenever I am in public even though I know it is impossible.

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"This grief of losing Saqib has further been compounded by having to relive the horror of my son's death over and over again in court. My family and I would like to thank Leicestershire Police greatly for their diligence, thoroughness and painstaking hard work in ensuring that those responsible for Saqib's death did not evade justice.

"We have hope and confidence that Saqib has found eternal rest with Our Lord and that we will get to be with him again when we pass. We also pray that no family will have to go through our experience."

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