Timeline: the life and death of Shafilea Ahmed

A teenager who went missing after expressing fears of being forced into an arranged marriage by her parents was the victim of a "very vile murder", a coroner said today.

The decomposed body of Shafilea Ahmed, 17, was found by workmen on the banks of the River Kent at Sedgwick, Cumbria, five months after she disappeared from her home in Warrington, Cheshire, in September 2003.

Ian Smith, the East and South Cumbria coroner, ruled that was unlawfully killed, and said he believed the concept of an arranged marriage was "central" to the circumstances leading up to her death.

Both the coroner and the senior police officers investigating the case also denied claims by the dead girl's mother, that the police had failed to co-operate fully with the family.

"It must be remarked," said Mr Smith, "that the disappearance of Shafilea was reported to the police by Joanne Code [her former school teacher], not by the family, and the family’s policy at the time was, ’Wait and see what happens'.

"I think the police had put thousands and thousands of hours into this inquiry and I think they’ve not always had the total co-operation from the wider family that they might have had."

At the end of a four-day hearing at Kendal County Hall, the coroner told the inquest: "She was murdered. I’m convinced of that because of the way in which the body was disposed, it had been hidden and she had been taken many miles away from home."

Mr Smith said that he could not state where she had died but he was "very confident" it was not on the river bank. "I do not believe she escaped and ran away. She was taken there," he said.

"Shafilea was the victim of a very vile murder. I do not know who did it. There’s no evidence before the court as to who did it. I sincerely hope in the future inquiries will be carried out by the police and they will one day discover who did it because this young woman has not had justice.

"Her ambition was to live her own life in her own way. To study, to follow a career in the law and to do what she wanted to do. These are just basic fundamental rights and they were denied to her."

Shafilea was genuinely afraid, rightly or wrongly, that her parents were planning to force her into marriage, the coroner said..

Nobody has been arrested in connection with Shafilea's death, and the case remains the subject of a live murder investigation.

Her parents, Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed, deny involvement in her death.

Another relative, Mian Khan, also came under fire from the coroner, who openly questioned his integrity. Mr Khan declined to say on oath whether he was Shafilea's grandfather, casting doubt over the teenager's family background. Police now believe he is her uncle.

Mr Smith said: "Why is he covering up and what is he covering up? Is he covering up an embarrassing incident that occurred in Pakistan or is he covering up something far more sinister to protect the family?"

Mr Smith pointed out they were "not much further forward" in knowing how Shafilea died, despite hearing a considerable amount of evidence from her friends and teachers during the inquest.

At a press conference this afternoon, Cheshire Police paid tribute to a "beautiful and vulnerable girl, torn between two cultures."Superintendent Geraint Jones, the senior investigating office said: "It will never be closed until those responsible are brought to justice."

The Bradford-born student was reported missing a week after disappearing on September 11, 2003, by a former school teacher at Great Sankey High School.

Shafilea’s father said that he decided not to report her missing after the circumstances of two previous disappearances, in November 2002 and January 2003. Iftikhar Ahmed, 48, a taxi driver, said he was told by police on those occasions that there was nothing that could be done because of her age.

Ruling the cause of death as "unascertained", the coroner said he was satisfied that Shafilea did not die of natural causes or suicide. Dr Alison Armour, a pathologist, told the hearing the most likely cause was by smothering or strangling.

The inquest had heard evidence earlier that the teenager led a troubled life. Community workers said that Shafilea had approached them for help to find accommodation or a place in a refuge to escape from her parents, whom she claimed were forcing her into an arranged marriage.

She also confided to her friends that her parents beat her and stole £2,000 from her bank account, although the coroner said there was no proof of this.

Mr Smith said he believed that Shafilea died within a few hours of leaving work on the night of September 11, 2003.

She had become a "frightened young woman" after a phone conversation in 2002 between Mr Ahmed and his uncle. They had discussed a possible arranged marriage between Shafilea and the uncle’s son.

Mr Ahmed told the hearing that such an arrangement needed the consent of the boy and girl but the coroner said he believed the "greater family" had more say on the issue and could impose pressure for it go ahead.

The coroner said: "She [Shafilea] did not want to be married, full stop, at this point. She did not want to marry someone she did not know or may not like. Rightly or wrongly, she feared all these things might happen."

The teenager went missing shortly after returning from a trip to Pakistan, where she is believed to have drunk bleach after meeting a possible suitor. Her family claimed she drank the caustic substance in the mistaken belief it was mouthwash.

Two months before the discovery of her body in February 2004, Cheshire Police arrested Mr and Mrs Ahmed on suspicion of kidnap. They also arrested five relatives for allegedly perverting the course of justice. All were later released without charge.

Shafilea's relatives have denied any suggestion that her behaviour had brought shame upon their family, and said that their daughter’s fears of an arranged marriage in Pakistan were unfounded.

Yesterday, her mother attacked the authorities, accusing them of failure to co-operate. She said: "It is more than four years. What have they been doing? Is it not the police’s job to find out what has happened to my child?

"Again and again they are blaming myself and my husband.

"I am not happy at all. They [the police] did not co-operate with us. If they had co-operated there is a possibility they might have found our daughter alive."

Cheshire Police said that Mrs Ahmed's comments were "unacceptable". Relatives had refused to give the police direct access to the family, referring them instead through their legal representatives, a spokesman said: "We have had a lot of fairly stark confrontations about what family members were doing at certain times of their daughter's life. So to say we have avoided working closely with them, I would refute that."

The inquest revealed a complicated family history. It emerged that Shafilea's father was still married to a Danish woman, with whom he had a child, at the time of his marriage to Shafilea’s mother Farzana.

He married Vivi Anderson in a civil ceremony in Copenhagen in 1982, and they had a son, Tony. Ms Anderson was not aware that her husband had taken a second wife.

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