"If I had any wish to kill you, I could have"
Habibur Masum has been found guilty of murdering his wife, Kulsuma Akter, in a “ferocious” daylight knife attack that left her bleeding to death on a Bradford street.
Masum was convicted of murder at Bradford Crown Court after jurors heard he stabbed Ms Akter at least 25 times in front of their seven-month-old son.
The court heard he cut his wife’s throat as she lay on the ground and then calmly walked away, smiling and boarding a bus from the city centre.
Prosecutor Stephen Wood KC told the jury:
“He put her on the ground and kicked her as a final insult before lifting her head and deliberately cutting her throat.”
Jurors were told that Masum tracked Ms Akter to a refuge in Bradford after she fled from their home in Oldham, where she had reported a history of domestic abuse.
He had held a knife to her throat during a previous assault, prompting her to seek safety with help from social services.
Using her phone location, Masum found where she was staying. CCTV showed him “loitering, watching and waiting” outside the hostel in the days before the murder.
He then sent threatening messages to her and her family.
One read: “I know that you are living in this place. I knew from the first day you moved here.
“If I had any wish to kill you, I could have from the first day.
“You do not know what you have lost but one day you will understand. Nobody will love you like I do.”
Masum also sent fake messages pretending to be from a local GP, attempting to lure her out under the pretext of a child’s appointment, warning of “increasingly dire consequences” if she did not attend.
On April 6, 2024, after falsely updating his Facebook to suggest he was in Spain, Masum confronted his wife while she walked through Bradford city centre with their baby in a pram and a friend.
Mr Wood said: “He realised she was not coming with him.
“He pulled a knife from his jacket and launched the brutal attack.”
CCTV played to the jury captured Ms Akter’s screams as she was attacked.
After the murder, Masum travelled nearly 200 miles to Aylesbury, where he was arrested three days later in a hospital car park. He had sought treatment for “lockjaw”.
During his police interview, Masum initially asked to view the footage of the killing, which Mr Wood said showed he wanted “to see what officers had on him”.
Masum later claimed in court that he had brought the knife to stab himself in front of Ms Akter.
Giving evidence through a Bengali interpreter, he said he “lost control” when she told him that “there would be no shortage of people willing to replace him” as a father to their son.
He broke down in tears during testimony, claiming he could not remember killing her.
But Mr Wood dismissed his version of events: “The only person Habibur Masum feels sorry for is himself. His tears were as fake as his claims of self-harm.”
The court heard that Ms Akter had tried to escape an increasingly abusive relationship.
The couple met in Bangladesh, married, and moved to the UK in 2022 after Masum received a student visa to study marketing.
The relationship became controlling.
In August 2022, Masum told a doctor: “When he fights with her, he feels like he is going to kill her.”
In November 2023, Ms Akter received a message from a male colleague, which Masum reacted to with violence.
He slapped her, pulled her hair and said:
“I am going to murder you, and the police will be taking me.”
The next day, he held a knife to her throat. He denied the incident, claiming she fabricated the allegations to remain in the UK.
After his arrest, Ms Akter moved to the refuge in January 2024. Her social worker was arranging for her to be rehoused, and she was due to move just two days after the murder.
Masum denied murder but admitted manslaughter. He was also found guilty of assault, stalking, and making threats to kill. He pleaded guilty to possessing a knife in public.
The jury unanimously convicted him of murder. Sentencing is expected at a later date.
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