Man jailed for killing mother-in-law in Rochdale

Thursday, 23 August 2018 07:00

A man who killed his mother-in-law, after she helped her daughter flee an unhappy arranged marriage, has been jailed.

Muhammad Tafham, 31, of Clement Royds Street, Rochdale was sentenced at Minshull Street Crown Court.

46-year-old Rahman Begum had helped her daughter return to Bradford after her child’s marriage to Tafham fell apart and he refused a divorce.

On Wednesday 7 February 2018, Rahman was at her home on Clement Royds Street in Rochdale when her son-in-law - Tafham – visited.

He later left the house and went to visit his cousin.

Rahman was later found by one of her daughters lying on the kitchen floor with a number of stab wounds.

After reviewing CCTV footage officers realised Tafham was the last person to see Rahman and arrested him that evening.

Despite claiming that Rahman had taken her own life, a jury decided he was lying and found him guilty.

He was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 21 years after being convicted of murder.

Senior Investigating Officer Duncan Thorpe of GMP’s Major Incident Support Unit, said: “When Rahman opened the door she had no idea that her son-in-law, who she’d spent so much time with and welcomed into her family, would brutally attack her.

“Tafham didn’t just take a cherished mother, wife and friend away, he completely destroyed a loving and happy family with his abhorrent actions that day. The whole community have felt this loss and I am glad that we have been able to secure a conviction.

"Your family are meant to be the people you can depend on the most and Tafham will now spend the next 21 years behind bars thinking about how he betrayed every person he was meant to care about.”

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