Ex-husband confesses to murder of British woman in Pakistan

The former husband of a British woman who died in Pakistan has confessed to her killing, according to reports.

The BBC said police sources had confirmed that Choudhry Shakeel had been arrested on suspicion of murdering Samia Shahid (28) and has admitted he strangled her with a scarf.

Ms Shahid, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, died last month while visiting relatives in northern Punjab.

Her family initially said she had died from natural causes but her second husband – Syed Mukhtar Kazam – claimed she was killed because of her marriage to him.

The News newspaper in Pakistan said earlier this month a forensic report confirmed she had been murdered. It said the report "stated clearly that her death had been caused due to suffocation, as she was stopped from breathing".

The report followed claims from Mr Kazam a 19cm bruise was found on his wife’s neck. Mr Kazam said he had seen a copy of a postmortem report.

He married Shahid in Leeds in September 2014 after she left her first husband, a cousin from Pakistan. Mr Kazam said his wife moved to live with him in Dubai last year but had made trips to the UK to talk to her parents about the relationship.

He said she had gone to Pakistan on July 14th as a member of her family was ill.

Mr Kazam said his wife had been healthy and he did not believe her family’s initial claims that she had died naturally.

The BBC said Ms Shahid’s father, Mohammad, was being held as an accessory to murder. Both men appeared in court in Pakistan on Saturday.

– PA