Man jailed for life after killing mother-in-law

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A man has been jailed for life after stabbing his mother-in-law to death in Rochdale.

Muhammad Tafham (28/07/1987) of Clement Royds Street, Rochdale has today (Wednesday 22 August 2018) been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 21 years after being convicted of murder at Minshull Street, Crown Court.

On Wednesday 7 February 2018, 46-year-old Rahman Begum was at her home on Clement Royds Street when her son-in-law - Tafham - went round to see her.

He stabbed and killed Rahman in her home following a family dispute in which he blamed her for helping his wife, her daughter Aysha, to run away following the break-up of their marriage and to return to her former boyfriend.

Tafham waited until Rahman was alone in the house after taking her youngest daughter to school before he knocked at the door.  He then attacked her in her own kitchen, fatally stabbing her with a knife.  He placed the knife in her hand to make it look like suicide, unplugged the CCTV that covered the front of the house and fled the scene 45 minutes later, going to visit his cousin.

Meanwhile, Rahman’s family kept trying to get hold of her. They were worried that she wasn’t answering and at lunchtime, one of Rahman’s daughters went to check on her.

She was horrified to find her mum lying on the kitchen floor with a number of stab wounds.

When police arrived, Rahman’s family, including Tafham, were told about the death and given specialist support.

However, after reviewing CCTV footage, officers realised Tafham was the last person to see Rahman and arrested him that evening.

Despite claiming that Rahman had taken her own life, a jury saw through his lies and found him guilty.

Senior Investigating Officer Duncan Thorpe of GMP’s Major Incident Support Unit, said: “When Rahman opened the door she had no idea that her son-in-law, who she’d spent so much time with and welcomed into her family, would brutally attack her.

“Tafham didn’t just take a cherished mother, wife and friend away, he completely destroyed a loving and happy family with his abhorrent actions that day.

“The whole community have felt this loss and I am glad that we have been able to secure a conviction.

"Your family are meant to be the people you can depend on the most and Tafham will now spend the next 21 years behind bars thinking about how he betrayed every person he was meant to care about.”

Jayne Sharp from the Crown Prosecution Service said: “Muhammad Tafham admitted that he had gone round to Rahman Begum’s house that morning but claimed that she had committed suicide by stabbing herself while he was in the living room.  He tried to evade justice by placing the weapon in her hand, disconnecting the CCTV, changing out of his bloodstained clothes and consistently lying about what happened.

“The CPS presented expert pathology and forensic evidence to the jury that proved the stab wounds could not be self-inflicted and conclusively proved that it was Muhammad Tafham who had killed her.  We demonstrated that his defence was a complete fabrication. 

“Muhammad Tafham was angry when he found out his wife had left and took out his anger on his mother-in-law in a cowardly and brutal way. 

“My sincere sympathies are with the family and friends of Rahman Begum.  I hope it brings them some comfort that he has been brought to justice for this terrible crime.”