Surrounded by police, Syed Ahmad’s lies began. “Self defence, self defence,” he said. “She attacked me.”
His wife’s lifeless body lay on the floor in the rain yards away. Anam Rafay had suffered up to 40 stab wounds. The 36-year-old had tried to leave their Wythenshawe home – and her abusive and controlling spouse – after falling in love with another man.
Mrs Rafay repeatedly served divorce papers on Ahmad, 45. He repeatedly said he would change.
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Then, on January 27 this year, as she stood by the sink, she was savagely attacked – wildly stabbed and left to die. Callous Ahmad told a subsequent murder trial: “I love my wife.”
Jurors heard that in the wake of the brutal killing he was seen smirking. The trial was later told he messaged family members: “I have killed my wife.”
Throughout the two-week Manchester Crown Court trial, Ahmad repeatedly lied and denied responsibility. It was only after he gave evidence himself that he finally admitted murder.
As Ahmad faces life in prison for killing his wife, the Manchester Evening News looks back at the evidence in the case…
‘She said she couldn’t leave him because he would kill her’
Mrs Rafay and Ahmad married in 2005 in the city of Karachi, Pakistan. Their mothers were sisters. Their marriage was arranged between the families.
As Ahmad had five brothers, his mum promised Mrs Rafay’s family they would ‘treat her like their own daughter’.
Police at the scene on Lulworth Gardens in Wythenshawe(Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)
At just 16, she was made to cook for the whole family, clean the house and wash the laundry. She could not eat until the family had finished and left the room, her dad, Nadeem Khan said.
“They promised me she would continue her education,” he told jurors.
Over the years, she returned to Pakistan to visit loved ones, alongside husband. She told her dad Ahmad didn’t work and stayed at their home on Lulworth Gardens, in Wythenshawe. Mrs Rafay said her partner abusive and controlling.
“[It] was very controlling and coercive behaviour, wherever she went he always had objection,” her father said. “We didn’t have any idea what he was doing.
“Whenever he spoke to us he would apologise and make false promises which he never kept. He would promise he would start working and earn his way. She said to save the heating bill, he would turn the heating off.”
He said that if knew Ahmad had been violent towards his daughter, he wouldn’t have let her return to the UK with him. Mr Khan said both he and his wife, Mrs Rafay’s mother, tried to persuade her to stay with them, but she returned to Manchester.
“I did try to stop her but she did not agree with me, she wanted to go back and work,” he added. “I did not think he was that bad as he always behaved in Pakistan and we spoke to him. I never thought he would go to that extreme.”
Mrs Rafay began working as a dinner lady at a Manchester school in 2019. She made friends and told of her troubles at home.
Gemma Mulvaney said: “She wanted a divorce but she said he wouldn’t give her one. She said his family were just like him, very controlling and always took his side. He made her feel uncomfortable and made her feel quite scared. She told me Syed managed her money.
The forensic tent at the scene(Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)
“He used to follow her to work in the car, but she would walk. I call it kerb crawling. He used to drive really slowly next to her. He would then wait until she entered the building and then he would leave. I asked her why he doesn’t let her in the car and she said she didn’t know.”
She said that during the lunchtime break, Ahmad would park in the car park before ‘pacing up and down the field’ while staff watched children playing. “I thought he was looking at a child at first, then, very obviously, he was watching Anam,” she added.
Ms Mulvaney said Mrs Rafay was often late for work and was given numerous warnings. She asked her why she didn’t leave for work without him. Mrs Rafay reportedly replied: “I can’t, he won’t let me leave. I have to wait for him.”
She said that prior to working at the school, Mrs Rafay wore ‘plain clothes and no make up’, but when she saw the other women, dressing up ‘glam’ and ‘loved the glam life’.
“She came in one day with a scarf around her neck and covering her lips. I asked why and she showed me her lips, and she’d had lip filler. I asked her ‘why are you covering that?’ and she said ‘so Syed doesn’t know’,” Ms Mulvaney said.
“The next day she came to work with a black eye and tried to cover it with make up.” She said she asked if Ahmad had assaulted her and that Mrs Rafay confirmed he did, but said words to the effect of ‘it’s okay, I’ll be fine’.
Ms Mulvaney said she saw ‘finger bruises’ of various ages on Mrs Rafay’s wrists and arms. She also said she offered Mrs Rafay a place to stay and help to ‘get away’ from Ahmad.
Another former colleague, Kirsty Tomlin, said Mrs Rafay had described Ahmad as ‘horrible’ and ‘evil’. “She said he used to beat her up, he never helped her in the house. He just wasn’t nice to her,” she said.
“She said she wasn’t happy in her marriage. She said she couldn’t leave him because he would kill her.”
‘You’re my cup of tea, I’m missing you’
In the midst of emotional and violent turmoil at home, Mrs Rafay turned to social media for comfort. There she came across a travel account on TikTok.
A man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, boasted of his life of travel around the globe, with picturesque videos and pictures of his trips.
She messaged him and they soon began speaking over WhatsApp. “She said she lived in Manchester. She said if I was free, I could visit and we could meet,” he told the court. “It happened many times.”
They first met in June last year at a park near her home. She didn’t initially tell him of being married. The pair went on trips to Liverpool, Coventry Glasgow and Birmingham, he said.
After around two to three months, Mrs Rafay told him of Ahmad’s abuse. “She said my husband is very abusive. I could see many scratches on her body especially the leg and the chest,” he told the court.
“When he came close to having sex with her she refused, she told him she didn’t like him and he had a knife. She had some issues back home. He [her brother in law] threatened to send her back to Pakistan. Anam showed me messages.
(Image: MEN Media)
“I was in a hotel with Anam in Manchester and she called her parents. Her family said ‘my daughter is very happy with you, can you stay with her, look after her. There’s no one to help her. When you come to Pakistan stay with us’.
“She said ‘I’m not happy with my husband he is torturing me all the time’. I was ready to move on with Anam.”
Things escalated in January this year when he posted on his TikTok account while in Pakistan. Mrs Rafay posted a love heart emoji in the comments and wrote ‘you’re my cup of tea, I’m missing you’. She added: “I love you.”
He asked her to delete the comment, but within minutes he received a message from Ahmad telling him he was her husband. “Who?,” the man replied.
“Mrs Anam Khan, brother,” Ahmad wrote. “I have a lot of people I’m sorry, I don’t now any Anam,” the man said. He told jurors he wanted to keep his relationship with Mrs Rafay ‘a secret’.
“Who are you, brother?” He wrote back. “Mr Syed Rafay,” Ahmad said. “Why what happened with your wife?,” the man wrote.
“Are you on WhatsApp with her?,” Ahmad asked. “I love my wife (Mrs Anam Rafay),” he added. “Why you telling me, brother?,” the man said.
He later received a message from Mrs Rafay reading: “Please block him.” The man said he next received a message from a member of Mrs Rafay’s family telling him: “She passed away, please make dura (prayers) for her.”
‘I told her I would leave after a year’
The court heard that in September last year Mrs Rafay contacted a mufti – a divorce mediator – in Longsight to ask about obtaining a divorce application. She had fallen in love and wanted to marry the man she had met online, she said.
The following October she served an application on Ahmad who replied asking for mediation. She agreed to give him ‘one more chance to change’.
The night before the fatal attack, she told Ahmad she wanted a divorce. It led to a heated argument.
Syed Ahmad (Image: GMP)
Giving evidence, Ahmad said he challenged his wife over her relationship with the man. He said she told him she wasn’t seeing anybody else. “She said there was nothing more,” he said.
He said he went home that night and had ‘disturbed sleep’. “It was too much, anxiety depression and stress, unbearable, I was too mentally disturbed,” he added.
Mrs Rafay woke up at around 7am, he said, adding: “I woke up at 8am, it was bin day so I put the bins out. At around 8.05am I went to the TV lounge. I went into kitchen and made tea.
“I had visuals and sounds. I thought back to time in 2018, I heard my father in law tell my wife, he said ‘smash his head’, they were fed up with my mental health problems.
“He said ‘smash his head’ to my wife. My late wife complained. She came back to my room. We came back to this country. If I said anything they wouldn’t let her back.
“I told her your father said ‘smash his head in’ she said he was joking. Its just a joke. I saw them in the other room. I heard their voices. Those moments came in my mind, flashbacks.
“I heard my father in law… ‘smash his head open’, then I heard a male voice after a few seconds saying ‘she will attack my head, she would crack my head open’. Then I went paranoid and I can’t remember anything after those words.”
In cross examination, he said he went to get his haircut the day before in the style of a younger man. “Did you think she would be impressed?,” prosecutor Bill Baker KC asked him. “Yes, it’s anxiety, depression, stress,” Ahmad said.
“If she got a divorce she would have been free of you?,” he asked Ahmad. “I wouldn’t have to leave. I thought she would give me more time,” Ahmad said.
“You couldn’t come to terms with your wife leaving you. You just said you refused to leave if she got a civil divorce. If a marriage comes to an end someone has to leave, don’t they?,” the prosecutor pressed.
“I told her civil divorce, I will leave after a year,” Ahmad said. “You were abusive to her and you blamed her, didn’t you?,” Mr Baker asked.
“It was my fault, I blame myself. My father use to beat my mother up in Pakistan,” Ahmad replied. “Are you saying it’s acceptable to beat your wife because your dad beat your mum?,” the prosecutor asked.
“Wrong, not acceptable,” Ahmad said. “Why couldn’t you sleep?,” he was asked. “Too disturbed,” the defendant said. “Because you realised she was off?,” the prosecutor countered.
“I had one year. I told her this man was not coming to my house,” Ahmad said.
As his evidence concluded, unable to keep up with the lies, Ahmad asked to be rearraigned. Before jurors, he finally pleaded guilty to murder.
On Friday(July 31), he will learn his fate.