Birmingham woman who set fire to husband jailed for murder

A woman who killed her husband by pouring petrol over him and then setting it alight after he began a relationship with another woman has been jailed for life.

Shahnaz Begum, of Churchill Road, Handsworth was found guilty of the murder of Liaqat Zaman by a jury at Birmingham Crown Court.

Judge William Davis QC, said Begum must spend a minimum of 17 years behind bars before she could be considered for release.

“What you did was to pour petrol over your husband and set fire to him. It is impossible to know whether you intended to kill him or merely to cause him some really horrible injury.

“But whatever it was that was in your mind it was motivated by anger and frustration,” he said. “Without in any way wishing to say anything adverse about Mr Zaman, it is the case that he had taken a second wife and that undoubtedly upset and angered you.

“This cannot be something that happened literally in a moment. You must have thought about what you were going to do.

“There was a degree of premeditation about what you did and what you did was truly dreadful.”

But he accepted Begum must have quickly repented after realising the awfulness of what she had done and had tried to save her husband.

The court was told that the victim and Begum had married in 1994 and had three children but in 2006 Mr Zaman met Maryam Bham over the internet and married her according to Islamic law.

Peter Grieves-Smith said Mr Zaman would spend weekend with his “other wife” who lived in London and that this had caused difficulties in his relationship with Begum.

In February last year the victim had gone out and bought a car for Miss Bham and when he returned to his home in Birmingham and sat down to watch TV, his wife had carried out the attack.

She then tried to cover up what she had done by hiding a cigarette lighter and petrol container.

Mr Zaman ran screaming from the address and died three days later after suffering 70 per cent burns.

Begum claimed she had been saying her prayers when she heard her husband screaming.

Richard Benson QC, for Begum, said: “This is a lady who had enjoyed what appeared to have been a happy marriage. Then in 2006 things went horribly wrong.”

He said that because of her cultural background Begum had bore her husband seeing other women with fortitude but when he bought the car for Miss Bham it may have “tipped the balance”.