Shafilea Ahmed Murder is Still Under Investigation

Four years ago in February, the body of 17 year old Shafilea Ahmed was found on a Cumbria Riverbank, six months after her disappearance from her home in Warrington.  The teen was to marry in an arranged marriage planned by her parents.  Authorities suspected the planned marriage may have been a link to her murder.

Shafilea’s parents and five family members were arrested but later released with no charges.

Cheshire police were criticized for the way they treated the victim’s family.

Cheshire assistant chief constable, David Baines addressed the issue by stating “some of those words that criticized the officers for failing to work closely with them are unacceptable and need to be address…Lines of inquiry have led to start confrontations about what they were doing at different times in their daughter’s life…working closely had been deeply difficult.  Within two days of the body being found we were denied access to the family and had to go via family representatives.

After the inquest, Det. Supt. Geraint Jones, Cheshire police, asks the public for any information on Shafilea’s case.  He says the “huge inquiry” has already spread across many countries.

Jones is still waiting for permission to go to Pakistan for further investigations.

All allegations that Cheshire officers were stereotyping the family during the investigations were denied.

“The evidence drives the inquiry and if that means we have to ask the family hard questions then it is legitimate we follow those lines of inquiry…It was difficult and will continue to be difficult, but that is not racially stereotyping.”

The “key focus” of the investigation is on the “people in her life” and what happened to her before she disappeared.  Det Supt Jones has noticed slight contradictions in the family tree provided.  Who he believes to be the victim’s uncle is listed as her grandfather in the family tree.