Police dig for remains of mother murdered 10 years ago by her husband in honour killing

Police officers are carrying out a search near the A19 in Thirsk, North Yorkshire

Rania Alayed was murdered by her husband in 2013 (PA)

Police officers have begun digging for the remains of a mother-of-three who was killed 10 years ago by her husband.

Rania Alayed, 25, was murdered by Ahmed Al-Khatib in a “pre-planned honour killing” in June 2013, with her killer claiming that he had buried her body between trees near the A19 in Thirsk, North Yorkshire.

Greater Manchester Police have now begun searching the site after receiving “new information”, with a “detailed search” being carried out of a lay-by.

A spokesperson for the police said: “We are carrying out a detailed search in relation to recovering the body of Rania Alayed. Following new information for a non-recent investigation, GMP’s Major Incident Team have been authorised to begin looking at land on the side of the A19 near Thirsk.

“Officers will be on location to carry out a thorough search of the area identified and will keep disruption to the local community to a minimum, with no wider risk or threat to the public.

“GMP remain committed to finding Rania and will act on all available lines of enquiry when it is possible to do so to help bring some form of closure to her loved ones ten years on.”

CCTV image of Ahmed Al-Khatib in the clothing of his wife Rania Alayed, which he wore to convince her family and friends she was alive (PA)

Al-Khatib was found guilty of her murder following a trial in 2014, with his two brothers also jailed for helping him dispose of the body.

Jurors heard that Ms Alayed had suffered years of domestic and sexual abuse before breaking free from her husband’s control, and beginning a new life with her children in Blackley.

After luring her to his brother’s flat in Salford, she was murdered before he began an elaborate plan to pretend she was still alive.

His claims that he had been mentally ill and had believed her to be possessed by a demon were rejected by the jury and he was jailed for a minimum term of 20 years.

Sentencing Al-Khatib, Mr Justice Leggatt said Ms Alayed had suffered “years of abuse”.

“The contempt you showed for Rania in death matched the contempt of how you treated her in life,” he said.

The suitcase used by Ahmed Al-Khatib to carry his wife Rania Alayed in after he lured her to her to death (PA)

CCTV had shown him wearing her clothes to disguise himself while carrying her body in a suitcase, before setting off for North Yorkshire to dispose of her body.

Detective Chief Inspector Phil Reade, of GMP’s Major Incident Team, said after Ahmed’s sentencing: “Rania was a young mother-of-three with everything to live for. She was beginning to put an abusive and violent relationship behind her and had genuine cause to be optimistic for the future.

“But at the point when she thought she might be able to create a better life for her and her children – free of the domestic abuse she suffered at the hands of Al-Khatib – her husband snatched it all away in the cruelest and most despicable way possible.

“Invited to a neutral meeting place, he murdered her in cold blood while her children were in the next room. We might never know whether they heard or saw anything of their mother’s last movements.

“To deprive his own children of their mother is both sickening and chilling in the extreme. To later attempt to justify the killing by claiming a Jinn was about to attack him is both insulting to Rania’s memory and counter to all the evidence of a pre-planned honour killing. And, make no mistake, this was an honour killing.”