Husband of 'honour killing' teenager arrested on suspicion of murder

Victim: Sani Ali was found with multiple stab wounds

The husband of a pregnant teenager found stabbed to death has been arrested on suspicion of her murder.

The 24-year-old husband of Sana Ali, 17, was arrested by murder squad detectives along with 16-year-old youth.

Mrs Ali and her unborn child both died following the attack at her home in Bury, Greater Manchester, on Friday.

Mrs Ali, who was originally from Pakistan, moved to the UK five years ago.

Detectives earlier said they had not ruled out the possibility that the murdered teenager had been the victim of an 'honour killing'.

Mrs Ali, 17, who had been married for six months, had multiple knife wounds to her stomach, chest and arms when she was found dead in her home.

Police confirmed that several members of her family were being questioned over her death.

A spokesman said: "We are investigating all possibilities and not ruling anything out."

Detectives were called to the six-bedroom detached home in Bury at around 4.15pm on Friday.

It is understood that Mrs Ali, who was two months pregnant, lived at the house with her 24-year-old husband, his younger brother and his parents.

At the time of the attack, her parents-in-law were abroad.

Detective Chief Inspector Keith Dillon, who is leading the inquiry, said Mrs Ali's sister-in-law called the emergency services after discovering the teenager with horrific injuries in an upstairs bedroom.

She was taken to Fairfield Hospital in Bury but suffered a heart attack in the ambulance and doctors were unable to save her or her unborn child.

A post-mortem examination found that Mrs Ali died as the result of stab wounds to her chest and abdomen.

"This was a very violent attack," said Mr Dillon. "It is clear that this woman was attacked with a sharp implement."

He added: "We are interviewing the family to find out all the background. I am keeping an open mind on everything.

"We are treating this as a murder inquiry, but are keeping an open mind as to the motive as it is very early in the investigation."

Mrs Ali was born in Pakistan but came to Britain several years ago. Her family live eight miles from Bury in Cheadle Hulme, Manchester.

The teenager is believed to have had an arranged marriage to her husband in December last year. Her in-laws are thought to run an electrical goods business in Manchester. Her family released this photograph yesterday through police.

The teenager had recently started a child care course at a local college, but left when she found she was pregnant.

Yesterday, the house, which is in an affluent suburb north of Bury, remained sealed off as forensic officers continued to comb the scene.

Police said there was no sign of a forced entry and nothing appeared to have been stolen.

No one had been formally arrested but members of Mrs Ali's family were still being spoken to by detectives.

Neighbours said they were shocked by the murder. "They are a quiet family, we rarely saw them," one resident said. "They are Muslim and sometimes they wear traditional dress, but other times they wear Westernised clothing.

"They recently had a large garage converted into a prayer room, and every couple of weeks quite a number of people came to pray. But I never saw a young girl at the house.

"A policeman told me he had interviewed 29 residents in the street and not one had seen a teenage girl or knew one that had recently got married."

Another neighbour, who lives opposite the Ali family home, added: "We heard a woman screaming 'she's dead' and we rushed outside. An ambulance arrived and one of them was shouting 'keep her alive'.

"We saw members of the family being taken away in police cars and we saw something we believed was a large knife being removed from the house."

Police have stepped up foot patrols in Bury in an attempt to reassure the community.

"This is a nice quiet residential area and it will have been a shock for those living here to realise what has happened," added Mr Dillon.

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