Sohail Aftab

Sohail Aftab was stabbed to death in what was described as a Muslim honour killing after he got his step-daughter pregnant.

He was killed on 13 July 1995 at a property in Frinton Road, East Ham.

Sohail Aftab's suspected killer was believed to have fled the country to Pakistan shortly after the murder.

It was heard that when Sohail Aftab had arrived in the United Kingdom in 1989 he had married a woman in a marriage of convenience. However, it was heard that the woman that he married, who already had five children from a previous marriage, became besotted with him and their relationship started to mean a great deal more to her.

However, when one of the woman's daughters, aged 21-years, described as 'stunning', came back from Pakistan to flee from an arranged marriage, Sohail Aftab and the daughter started an affair and she became pregnant by him in April 1995 and he moved in with her and her brother at an address in Frinton Road, East Ham.

However, it was heard that when the woman found out that her daughter was pregnant and that Sohail Aftab was the father, she became angry and ashamed at the dishonour.

It was heard that Sohail Aftab tried to get the daughter to have an abortion and even punched her in the stomach to terminate the child and branded the child a bastard.

It was said then that when one of the girl’s other brothers, who was said to be devout, heard of the situation he went to the home in Frinton Road and stabbed Sohail Aftab to death, almost slicing off his nose. It was said that Sohail Aftab was do bloodstained that the mutilation to his face was not discovered until the post mortem.

It was said that the mother and her nephew then helped arrange travel for the son to Pakistan and delayed informing the authorities until after he had left, when the nephew then went to the Frinton Road address to 'discover' the body.

However, it was heard that the police later found out that the nephew had made arrangements in a blizzard of telephone calls for the other brother, said to have murdered Sohail Aftab, to leave the country.

The mother was later convicted of helping her son flee to Pakistan and was sentenced to three years. The nephew was also jailed for four years. When they were jailed, the judge said, 'Being party to conceal a murder and helping the murderer leave the United Kingdom must be, on any showing, a very wicked crime. Family honour and things of that kind do not begin to justify it'.