'Controlling' husband who murdered wife as she pushed their baby in pram in Bradford jailed

A man who killed his wife as she pushed their seven-month-old baby in a pram has been handed a life sentence, with a minimum term of 28 years.

Habibur Masum, 26, was last month found guilty of murdering Kulsuma Akter, 27, in a "ferocious" knife attack after tracing her to a refuge she was staying in to escape his "violence, jealousy and controlling behaviour", a court heard.

He was also found guilty of one count of assault, one of making threats to kill and one charge of stalking.

Passing sentence on Tuesday, Mr Justice Barry Cotter told Masum: "Having considered the entirety of the evidence, I'm sure that you can be properly described as violent, self-centred, jealous, controlling and coercive with a firmly held view that your wife was not your equal and should do what you told her to do."

Ms Akter suffered more than 25 knife injuries after Masum found her through her phone location and confronted her in a street in Bradford, West Yorkshire, on 6 April last year.

The judge added that the "nature and extent" of Masum's attack "proves beyond all reasonable doubt that you intended to kill her," and that Ms Akter's wounds were "unsurvivable, as was your intention".

Ms Akter's family called Masum a "monster," saying in a statement after he was jailed: "We do not wish to utter his name. It does not deserve to be mentioned.

"The monster who savagely took Kulsuma from not only us, but also from her baby son. He will never know her beauty and her kindness."

After fleeing the scene, Masum boarded a bus and CCTV footage showed him smiling, prosecutor Steve Wood KC told Bradford Crown Court.

He was arrested after a four-day manhunt, having been found 150 miles away in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, where he and Ms Akter lived when they first came to the UK from Bangladesh.

He had already pleaded guilty to manslaughter and possession of a knife but denied murder, claiming he had intended to kill himself in front of his wife but "totally lost control".

The court heard during the trial that Ms Akter had attempted to escape Masum by staying at a refuge in Bradford after the killer had held a knife to her throat at their home in Greater Manchester.

Masum found that Ms Akter was staying at the refuge through her phone location on Snapchat, and stayed in streets around the hostel, as well as sending her messages threatening to kill her family members if she did not return to him.

The judge told Masum that "such was your behaviour, Kulsuma was able to predict her own death at your hands".

In a victim impact statement read to the court on Tuesday, Ms Akter's brother Imran Hussain said he "cannot comprehend that this has happened" to his "baby sister".

"My parents still struggle with losing their daughter, their youngest daughter, their baby," he added.

"There is now such a deep, painful void in our lives. She did not deserve what she experienced at the hands of Masum.

"This for us will be a life sentence."

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Marie Walsh, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said on Tuesday that Masum is "a violent and dangerous man who subjected his estranged wife to violence and domestic abuse causing her to flee their home to live in a safehouse".

She added: "This was a callous and shocking murder for which Masum has now been jailed by the court.

"We hope the imprisonment of Masum has brought some comfort to the family and friends of Kulsuma."

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