Teenager unlawfully killed, coroner

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The body of Shafilea Ahmed, 17, was discovered beside the River Kent at Sedgwick, Cumbria, in February 2004, following claims from friends and teachers that she feared being forced into an arranged marriage.

Police launched a murder inquiry and arrested her parents on suspicion of kidnapping the Warrington teenager but both were released without charge.

During the four-day inquest in Kendal, Cumbria, Shafilea's mother, Farzana Ahmed, accused detectives of not doing enough to find her daughter's killer.

East and South Cumbria Coroner Ian Smith 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 he believed Shafilea died within a few hours of leaving work on the night of September 11, 2003. He could not state where she 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," he said.

He said the concept of an arranged marriage was "central" to the circumstances leading up to her death. She had become a "frightened young woman" following a phone conversation in 2002 between her father, Iftikhar, 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.

He 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. She wanted to forge ahead with a career, she did not want to stop her studies and she did not want to live abroad. Rightly or wrongly, she feared all these things might happen."

Shafilea saw a planned family trip to Pakistan in February 2003 in which she feared she would be married as a threat to her future and the end of her freedom, Mr Smith said.