Three convicted over TikTok murder which saw two killed in high-speed car chase have appeals refused
Saqib Hussain and Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin were killed in February 2022, with TikTok influencer Mahek Bukhari and her mother Ansreen Bukhari jailed for their murders.
Three people who were convicted of manslaughter after two men were ambushed and then died during a high-speed car chase have lost their bids to challenge their convictions.
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Saqib Hussain and Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin were killed in February 2022, with TikTok influencer Mahek Bukhari and her mother Ansreen Bukhari jailed for their murders.
Mahek was said to have taken part in the ambush after Mr Hussain threatened to use sexually-explicit material to expose a long-running affair he had been having with her mother, who was married.
Mr Hussain and Mr Ijazuddin, both 21, died when their car left the A46 dual carriageway near Leicester, with prosecutors saying during a three-month murder trial at Leicester Crown Court that they were deliberately rammed off the road after the initial ambush in a supermarket car park.
As well as the mother and daughter, Rekhan Karwan, Raees Jamal, Ameer Jamal, Sanaf Gulammustafa and Natasha Akhtar were in one of two vehicles that was chasing Mr Hussain and Mr Ijazuddin’s car.
At a hearing earlier this month, Ameer Jamal, Gulammustafa and Akhtar brought appeals against their manslaughter convictions to the Court of Appeal in London.
Judges were told that each of the three admitted to being a passenger in the car but denied being part of any plan to harm Mr Hussain and were unaware that their car would ram Mr Hussain’s.
Lawyers for the trio argued that while they were convicted of unlawful act manslaughter – which requires an unlawful action to take place which caused death – the trial judge had not identified this “base” offense in the questions jurors had to consider.
However, three judges dismissed their appeals in a ruling on Tuesday.
Lord Justice Jeremy Baker, sitting with Mr Justice Bryan and Judge Simon Hirst, said: “We consider that in the context of this case, where there was no question but that those involved in the plan were intent on inflicting unlawful violence upon Saquib Hussain, these questions appropriately set out the matters which the jury had to consider.
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“The jury would have been well aware that the common plan which was being referred to was the plan to attack Saqib Hussain when he arrived at Tesco’s car park, in order to kill him, or to cause him to suffer either really serious bodily harm, or some lesser degree of harm.”
After a successful Court of Appeal challenge over their sentences last year, Ameer Jamal was sentenced to 12 years and eight months in prison, Gulamustafa given a sentence of 12 years and nine months and Akhtar was handed nine years and eight months in prison.
Mahek Bukhari was originally given a life sentence with a minimum term of 31 years and eight months, but the Court of Appeal reduced the minimum term to 26 years and 285 days during the same challenge.
Rekhan Karwan and Raees Jamal were jailed for life with a minimum of 26 years and 10 months and 31 years respectively for two counts of murder, while Ansreen Bukhari was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 26 years and nine months.