Double murder trial jury retires in case of TikTok influencer and her mother

Mahek Bukhari, from Stoke-on-Trent, is standing trial in Leicester alongside 46-year-old Ansreen Bukhari and six other defendants.

Mahek Bukhari, right, and her mother Ansreen Bukhari arrive at Leicester Crown Court (PA) (PA Wire)

A jury has retired to consider verdicts on a TikTok influencer, her mother and six other people accused of murdering two men during a high-speed car chase.

Prosecutors allege Saqib Hussain and Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin, who died when their car left the A46 dual carriageway near Leicester, were deliberately rammed off the road last February.

The victims, 21 and from Banbury in Oxfordshire, were in a Skoda allegedly chased by Audi and Seat vehicles containing the eight defendants.

YouTube and TikTok content creator Mahek Bukhari allegedly took part in the “ambush” after Mr Hussain threatened to use sexually explicit material to expose a long-running affair he had with her 46-year-old mother Ansreen Bukhari.

A three-month trial at Leicester Crown Court was told Mr Ijazuddin’s Skoda Fabia “split in two” and caught fire after hitting a tree at the Six Hills junction in the early hours of February 11 2022.

In a 999 call to police made by front-seat passenger Mr Hussain moments before his death, he said their car was being “rammed off the road” by balaclava-wearing assailants in two pursuing cars.

Mahek Bukhari, 24, and her mother, both of George Eardley Close, Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent, deny two counts of murder.

The other defendants, who also deny murder charges, are Raees Jamal, 23, of Lingdale Close, Loughborough; Rekan Karwan, 29, of Tomlin Road, Leicester; Ameer Jamal, 27, of Catherine Street, Leicester; Sanaf Gulammustafa, 23, of Littlemore Close, Leicester; Natasha Akhtar, 23, of Alum Rock Road, Birmingham, and 21-year-old Mohammed Patel, of Braybrooke Road, Leicester.

The jury deliberated for about 90 minutes on Friday without reaching verdicts. The panel will resume its discussions on Monday July 31.