Girl says she stands by love rat killer
A TEENAGER says she still loves the two-timing killer who strangled her rival.
Zoe Bradley, 19, has pledged to stand by Ashfaq Khan, father of her son Tahir, despite the fact he has admitted killing another girlfriend, Lynn Savery.
"I still love him and want to build my future with him," Miss Bradley said in the witness box at Manchester Crown Court. " I have been visiting him in prison and taking Tahir to see him. I like to think he loves me."
Miss Bradley was a prosecution witness at the trial in which Khan denies murdering 19-year-old Miss Savery before leaving her body at her home in Chelsea Avenue, Radcliffe, with their own daughter the day after the tot's first birthday
party.
Row
Khan has admitted manlaughter but the Crown alleges he strangled her duri
ng a row over him wanting to see his daughter Mia and that the killing was murder and the culmination of a catalogue of previous violence.
After the killing Khan went to Miss Bradley's home in Horridge Street, Tottington, and confessed he had "done something really, really bad".
Miss Bradley, who first became pregnant by Khan when she was at school and had a termination before giving birth to Tahir when she was 17, told the jury: "He was a bit upset.
"He said he thought he had killed Lynn. He said they were arguing over Mia, Lynn was screaming at him and he put his hand over her mouth until she stopped screaming."
The killing of young mum Lynn
Last posted: Friday 10 March 2006 08:12
A LOVE cheat who broke into his girlfriend's house and strangled her left her body beside her one-year-old daught
er, a court heard.
Ashfaq Khan attacked Lynn Savery, aged 19, following a row over access to baby Mia, Manchester Crown Court was told.
Miss Savery's body was discovered at her h
ome in Chelsea Avenue, Radcliffe, hours later by her step-father, Frank Adamson.
He climbed into the locked house through a kitchen window and saw baby Mia giggling and sitting on the floor next to her mum.
Khan, aged 26, of Cateaton Street, Bury, denied murder when he appeared at Manchester Crown Court on Thursday.
Paul Reid QC, prosecuting, told the court that Mr Adamson checked for vital signs but found nothing. He let Lynn's mother Janet Adamson into the house and she became hysterical when she saw her daughter"s body.
She called an ambulance and the paramedics attended.
"They checked Lynn as she lay on the kitchen floor but there was nothing they could do," said Mr Reid.
The court was told that Khan strangled her
in the kitchen of her home at around 8.30am on September 2 - they day after Miss Savery had held a party for local children to celebrate her daughter"s first birthday.
He used such force that her necklace was left embedded in her skin.
A jury of seven women and
five men heard that Khan, who was described as possessive and had a history of violence against Miss Savery.
Mr Reid said Khan tried to avoid the murder trial only moments before the case started by pleading guilty to manslaughter - a charge the prosecution would not accept.
Mr Reid told the jury: "Ashfaq Khan pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Lynn Savery. That was the first acknowledgment that he was her killer. That guilty plea was entered at the last possible moment before the trial was due to start.
"And it was entered only when he realised the futility of disputing before you the overwhelming evidence that he was her killer. His guilty plea didn"t arrive from a la
te show of remorse for killing his girlfriend, but the realisation that no jury would not conclude that he wasn"t the killer."
The court heard that following the incident, Khan went to the home of Zoe Bradley, another girlfriend and mother of his son, Tahir.
Mr Reid said: "He said he had done something really bad and Z
oe asked what he meant. He said "Lynn was screaming at me and I put my hand over her mouth until she stopped."
"He told Zoe he then put a cloth over Lynn"s mouth then cleaned anything he had touched. Zoe went to the toilet and was sick."
After the murder, Khan tried to cover his tracks by creating a "missed call" on his mobile phone from Miss Savery"s house. The crown allege he made this call himself. Khan then made a series of calls and texts to his victim, which he knew would not be answered.
In one he wrote: "Why you not answering? Love you more than anyone. I love you loads
and loads."
A post-mortem examination found bruises around Miss Savery's neck, skull and on her chest, which Mr Reid said could have been caused by Khan kneeling on her.
Miss Savery"s sister Zoe, aged 28 and Rachel Connor, who worked with Miss Savery at Bury law firm Graham, Leigh and Pfeffer, both told the court that Khan had previously attempted to strangle Miss Savery when she was five months pregnant and had
once ripped an earring from her ear. He had also threatened to burn her face with an iron.
temp link
