Britain: A Muslim mother faces a lengthy prison sentence after being convicted of drugging and kidnapping her own daughter when she broke off an arranged marriage and secretly married another man

Shamim Akhtar, 59, plotted with close relatives to abduct her youngest daughter, Naila Afsar, 25, after she refused to marry her first cousin and ran away to marry her lover, Afsar Saddiq. When her family discovered what she had done they threatened to kill her, before giving her a drink laced with a prescription sedative and driving her back to the family home. Preston Crown Court was told that the family took Saddiq’s mobile phone so he could not contact his bride and told him she would not be returning. But the plot fell apart when Saddiq dialled 999. Police stopped the Akhtars’ family car at a gas station. They discovered Afsar drowsy on the back seat and she was taken to hospital. Following a four week trial, mother-of-eight Akhtar, of Bradford, was found guilty of false imprisonment, kidnap and two counts of administering a drug with intent to commit an indictable offense. Her son Shamrez Khan, 34, also of Bradford, and her son-in-law Zahid Mahmood, 37, of Accrington, Lancashire, admitted the same charges. All three were remanded in custody pending sentence.