Shafilea Ahmed case: Parents 'forced bag into daughter's mouth'

The sister of Cheshire schoolgirl Shafilea Ahmed saw her mother and father force a bag into her mouth and suffocate her, a court has heard.

Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed are accused of killing their 17-year-old daughter at their Warrington home in 2003.

The murder was allegedly witnessed by Shafilea's younger sister Alesha, who kept the secret for seven years.

Mr Ahmed, 52, and his wife, 49, are on trial at Chester Crown Court where both deny murder.

Prosecutor Andrew Edis told the court: "She [Alesha] describes what is an act of suffocation by both her parents acting together."

He said they put their hands over her face "to close her airways so she could not breathe".

He added: "She had a bag forced into her mouth."

Mr Edis said Alesha, now 23, would later tell the court how she saw her parents in the kitchen of their home in Liverpool Road with bin bags and tape, wrapping the body up.

She then saw her father outside and heard a car driving off.

Mr Edis said: "She looked out of the window and saw her father with a large object wrapped in bin bags. She assumed that was the body of her sister."

Shafilea's decomposed remains were discovered on the banks of the River Kent in Cumbria in February 2004.

It was not until 2010 that Alesha provided the "final piece of the puzzle" about her death, the court has heard.

The trial continues.