8 hours ago
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A man has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 28 years after he was convicted of murdering his estranged wife, stabbing her a number of times as she pushed their baby in a pram.
Habibur Masum, 26, of Burnley, Lancashire, was found guilty of the murder in June after a trial at Bradford crown court. He was also convicted of one count of assault, one count of making threats to kill, and a third count of stalking.
Kulsuma Akter, 27, was shopping in Bradford when Masum confronted her. She was living in a refuge at the time, having fled the home they shared due to his violence and domestic abuse.
He had tracked her down, and confronted her while she was walking with a friend and pushing her baby son in a pram. Masum had previously sent her messages described by prosecutors as “menacing”, which contained threats to kill and photos and videos of the area and safe house where she was staying.
When Akter refused his attempts at reconciling the marriage, he repeatedly stabbed her in an attack in broad daylight on a busy street. Akter died from her injuries later that day.
Masum fled the scene but was quickly identified as a suspect after the attack was caught on CCTV. He was arrested three days later 175 miles south of Bradford, in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.
Masum had already pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to manslaughter and possession of a bladed knife. His guilty plea to manslaughter was not accepted by the prosecution, who proceeded with the murder trial.
