Shafilea Ahmed death: Sister stands by her parents

One of Shafilea Ahmed's sisters has told a jury that her parents played no part in the teenager's death.

Mevish Ahmed, 21, was giving evidence in the trial of Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed at Chester Crown Court.

The couple deny murdering Shafilea, 17, at their home in Liverpool Road, Warrington, in September 2003.

Ms Ahmed said she stood by the statements she made to police in December 2003, when Shafilea was missing.

She was cross-examined by Tom Bayliss QC, who is defending her 52-year-old taxi driver father.

He said: "The police officer asked you, 'did you think your mum and dad were involved in Shafilea's disappearance and could they be involved in any way?

"The 12-year-old you said no, what does the 21-year-old you say?"

Miss Ahmed replied: "No, still."

"And they weren't were they?" Mr Bayliss went on.

"No", she replied.

Shafilea's body was found on the bank of the River Kent in Cumbria in February 2004.

Another sister, Alesha, 23, earlier told Chester Crown Court their parents suffocated Shafilea in front of the other children.

She said she heard her mother say, "Just finish it here" in Urdu as they forced a plastic bag into the teenager's mouth.

The jury has also seen extracts of writings made by Mevish Ahmed and given to a friend, which appeared to corroborate Alesha's accusation.

Mevish Ahmed has said they were "fiction" and had been taken out of context.

Speaking on Wednesday, she said: "I feel like they are being blamed for something they have not done. I couldn't live with myself if, and obviously (the writings) have been taken out of context, they went down for something they didn't do.

"My sister's killer is still out there. I'm sorry that I wrote this, it was just a story and I did not think it would be taken out of context."

The trial continues.