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1st September 2023
04:47pm BST
TikTok influencer Mahek Bukhari and mother Ansreen Bukhari have both been jailed for life for the double murder of two men who died after their car was rammed off the road.
The pair were involved in a high-speed car chase in February last year, which resulted in the deaths of Saqib Hussain and Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin, both 21, when their Skoda crashed off the A46 dual carriageway near Leicester.
Their car "virtually split in two" and caught fire, killing Hussain and Ijazuddin instantly when it hit a tree.
Bukhari, 24, and her mother, 46, denied two counts of murder but were convicted by jurors at Leicester Crown Court last month after more than 28 hours of deliberations.
The mother and daughter were sentenced to life, which is mandatory for murder, along with Rekan Karwan and Raees Jamal, who were also involved in the car chase as accomplices, the BBC reports.
Natasha Akhtar, 23, Ameer Jamal, 28, and Sanaf Gulamustafa, 23, were all found not guilty of murder, but guilty of two counts of manslaughter.
Bukhari, who had more than 129,000 followers on TikTok, will spend a minimum of 31 years and eight months behind bars, whilst her mum was ordered to serve a minimum of 26 years and nine months.
The car chase was prompted after Hussain threatened to use sexually explicit material to expose a long-running affair he had with the influencer's mother.
Ansreen decided to put the response to the sex tape threat in her daughter's hands
So, Mahek decided to "set a trap" for him by luting him to a meeting in a Tesco car park in Leicester, on the the pretence that he would be given back £3,000 he had spent on taking Ansreen out.
Prosecutors said the plan was to force him to hand over his phone containing the incriminating content.
Hussain was driven to the location by his friend Hashim, where the pair were ambushed and chased by two cars in the early hours of February 11 2022.
In a 999 call to police made by Hussain moments before his death, he said their car was being "rammed off” the A46 dual carriageway by balaclava-wearing assailants in two pursuing cars.
In the call, played to the jury during the trial, a distressed Hussain could be heard saying: "They're trying to kill me, I'm going to die… please sir, I just need help.
"They're hitting the back of the car, really fast… please I'm begging you. I'm going to die."
He also said "Oh my God", before there was a scream and the call cut off at the sound of an impact.
During the trial, Mahek played Monopoly and Uno while she waited for the jury to come back with a verdict.
She also waved at reporters from a court balcony just two hours before her conviction.
In his remarks, Judge Timothy Spencer KC labelled the 24-year-old "immature below your years" and "utterly self-obsessed with a wholly unjust sense of self-entitledness."
Leicestershire Police's senior investigating officer in the case, Detective Inspector Mark Parish, said: "This was a callous and cold-blooded attack which ultimately cost two men their lives.
"After setting Mr Hussain and Mr Ijazuddin up, chasing them at high speed and then ultimately ramming their car off the road, none of the defendants made any attempt to help the victims or to call for help.
"Instead they drove on and then even drove back past the collision site. Still no one attempted to offer any help.
"As the defendants found guilty were arrested, charged and stood trial before a court, lies were continually told in order to try and cover their tracks.
"Their only concern during the whole incident and investigation has been for themselves."
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