A controlling husband murdered his wife because he couldn’t accept the fact she worked with other men.
Imran Khan, who considers himself a devout Muslim, stabbed his wife Nasreen eight times at their home with a kitchen knife after they argued about her job as a care worker.
Earlier he had text his wife, aged 38, that it was ‘haram’ (forbidden) for her to interact with other men, and ordered her to quit her job if she could not get a rota with only women.
Another text from her spouse read: ‘I have told you 10 times there are three people whose prayers will not be accepted by Allah – a fleeing slave until he returns to his master, a woman whose husband is angry with her, until he is pleased with her, and a drunkard until he becomes conscious.
‘If you don’t listen to me I get angry.’
He accused her of ‘playing games’ saying ‘If you go to men’s houses and lie to me I get angry.’
After police were called to the family home in Cheadle, Greater Manchester, Khan told one of the officers ‘Never get an arranged marriage bro.’
In her role as a care worker, Nasreen looked after elderly men and women, administering medicine and warming their food.
Passing sentence, Judge Patrick Field QC said Khan showed ‘an outdated, almost medieval notion of how a wife should behave.’
‘Nasreen worked hard to support her family and was good at that job but by contrast you are a selfish and controlling man, did little to support your family and your wife.
‘Unless anybody should think this was some kind of cultural clash let it be said that the evidence shows that your parents and sister were entirely supportive of Nasreen’s choice.
‘You nevertheless decided that no wife of yours should be caring for men.’
At Manchester Crown Court, Khan admitted murder and was jailed for life with a minimum requirement he serve 20 years.
‘Behind the traditional line taken in your texts, appeared to lurk an element of jealousy of your wife’s independence of mind and a resentment of her defiance of your orders,’ Judge Field said.
The couple had an arranged marriage in 1999 after Khan’s family travelled to Pakistan but the marriage was stormy. He spent family money on himself and claimed his wife would pretend to be asleep to avoid them getting intimate with each other.
On the day she was killed, Nasreen confided in her boss about her husband’s behaviour saying: ‘I can’t take it anymore, I don’t know what to do’ and the employer offered to speak to Khan.
But as they discussed the situation, Nasreen got another text from her husband saying: ‘It’s not halal for you to work with men. I don’t give permission. I told you no men when you started.’
In another text, he said: ‘Listen to what I’m telling you, you are my wife, let me remind you you are married.
‘If you go another man’s house again then you are doing Haram. Don’t ignore this again and again It’s Haram what you’re doing.’
That night the couple began arguing after Nasreen showed the text messages to their eldest daughter. Khan went out only to return an hour later saying: ‘I have got no choice – I’m going to kill her and kill myself.’
In court Khan claimed he carried out the killing at a time when he was ‘shocked and devastated’ after his wife told him ‘she never loved him and that the marriage was over.
