Mihrican Mustafa: One of two women found dead in freezer in Canning Town identified

Mother-of-three, 38, had been reported missing in May 2018

Mihrican Mustafa, 38, was found dead in a freezer nearly a year after going missing (PA)

Police have named one of two women whose bodies were found in a freezer in east London as a mother-of-three who had been missing for almost a year.

Mihrican Mustafa, 38, was discovered by police who searched a ground-floor flat in Canning Town last week.

It had been feared Ms Mustafa, known as MJ, was one of the women, whose bodies were found fused together in a small chest freezer.

Police warned earlier this week it would take days to identify the pair due to the "complex and challenging" crime scene.

Detective Chief Inspector Simon Harding said on Friday evening: “We are now confident that one of the females found is MJ. As you can imagine, this is a devastating time for her family and we would ask for their privacy to be respected."

Mustafa, who lived in Canning Town, was reported missing to police in Newham on 10 May last year.

The Metropolitan Police said it had referred itself to Independent Office for Police Conduct in accordance with agreed protocols for the deaths of missing people.

A post-morterm examination began today but a cause of death Mustafa's death has not yet been established.

The other women found in the freezer has not yet been identified.

Mr Harding said on Wednesday the the scene at the flat in Vandome Close was "one of the most challenging and complex" he had encountered in 28 years of policing.

He added: “It’s such an unusual scene. I haven’t really seen something like this where the nature of the two bodies being frozen as they are.

“They are clothed, which I can say, and that’s also causing a complexity to it as we wait to start a post-mortem.”

Mr Harding said there were no signs of any injuries on either women and it was not yet clear whether the pair were adults or if their bodies were “whole”.

DNA testing has been carried out on the bodies, with the results cross-referenced with missing people records.

Two men have been arrested in connection with the discovery of the women.

Zarhid Younis, 34, of Vandome Close, was charged on Wednesday with two counts of preventing the lawful and decent burial of a body. He will appear at Kingston Crown Court on 29 May.

A 50-year-old man arrested on suspicion of murder last week has since been released under investigation.