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The appeal to reduce the sentence of Ansreen Bukhari, the mother of a TikTok influencer convicted of murder, has been dismissed. Ansreen, who resides in George Eardley Close, Stoke-on-Trent, was found guilty alongside her daughter, Mahek Bukhari, and two other men for the killings of Saqib Hussain and Hashim Ijazuddin during a high-speed car chase. In February 2022, the court delivered convictions that resulted in Ansreen receiving a prison term of 26 years and nine months.
The appeal argued that the sentencing judge failed to adequately consider the coercive and controlling behavior Ansreen endured from Hussain. Her legal representation, led by James Millington KC, contended that the judge, Timothy Spencer KC, had set an excessively high standard when determining her sentence. Millington emphasized that Ansreen had been subjected to persistent coercion, which intensified in the weeks preceding the incident. He further noted that the police had received reports of similar controlling behavior from another woman unrelated to the case.
Millington described the situation as a relentless campaign of emotional abuse and blackmail by Hussain towards Ansreen, noting that even as she sought to end the relationship, Hussain refused to allow it. He underscored how the abusive messages escalated significantly on the day of the fatal car chase. The lawyer insisted that this pattern of coercive control should have been regarded as a mitigating factor during sentencing, especially in light of the recent changes brought about by the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024, which treats coercive control as a form of domestic abuse.
During the extensive three-month trial at Leicester Crown Court in 2023, evidence emerged that Hussain had been enticed under the pretense of reclaiming £3,000 he claimed to have spent on taking Mahek out during their relationship. Alongside the Bukharis, defendants Rekhan Karwan and Raees Jamal were convicted of murder, while Natasha Akhtar, Ameer Jamal, and Sanaf Gulamustafa were found guilty of manslaughter instead. Another co-defendant, Mohammed Patel, was acquitted of both murder and manslaughter charges. Earlier, Mahek Bukhari’s minimum life sentence had been reduced from nearly 32 to 27 years following an appeal that took her youth and immaturity into account, factors the original sentencing judge had allegedly undervalued
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