I'll always be afraid, says sister of 'honour' victim

They spoke as Banaz Mahmod's father and uncle were jailed for life for her murder, along with a family friend.

Banaz, 20, had repeatedly told the police she was in mortal danger after her uncle Ari Mahmod, 51, and father Mahmod Mahmod, 52, decreed she had shamed the family by leaving her arranged marriage and choosing her own boyfriend.

But officers refused to believe the Iraqi Kurdish woman's warnings, thinking she was an attention-seeker, and in January of last year the men strangled her with a shoelace.

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Her body was stuffed into a suitcase and buried. It was three months before she was found.

Her businessman uncle Ari, a former vet from Mitcham, south London, was jailed for a minimum of 23 years; her father for a minimum of 20, and their accomplice Mohamad Hama for at least 17 years.

Hama, 31, of South Norwood in London, the only one to plead guilty to murder, boasted that Banaz was gang-raped before she died. All three killers sat emotionless in the dock yesterday as Banaz's sister Bekhal, 22, and boyfriend Rahmat Suleimani gave statements to the Old Bailey about how the murder affected them.

Bekhal is so terrified of reprisals from members of her family and community that she came to court in a full-face veil.

She had fled the family home aged 16, and was threatened with murder for smoking and using hairspray "like a Westerner".

She wept as she told the court: "As I am separated from my family I have no one to share my memories of Banaz with, and no one to share my grief with. There has not been one night I've not had nightmares about her.

'Because of the circumstances surrounding her death, my life shall never be safe again, and I constantly have to look over my shoulder. My safety will always be an issue."

Mr Suleimani, 28, an Iranian Kurd, said: "Banaz and I were very much in love. We planned to live together, get married and have two children, a boy and a girl. We had even chosen the names for the children.

"I have tried to commit suicide on more than one occasion because I cannot see a life without her."

Mr Suleimani - who was himself repeatedly threatened with death - added: "I cannot trust anyone. I have to constantly look over my shoulder. I have a lonely life."

Judge Brian Barker told Ari and Mahmod Mahmod: "This was a barbaric and callous crime.

"You are both hard and unswerving men for whom the respect of the community is more important than the happiness of your own flesh and blood, and for whom killing in the name of honour is above understanding and tolerance. No remorse has been expressed.

"This offence was designed to send out a message to the community to discourage the legal behaviour of girls and women in this country."