Petrol bomb murderers killed Huddersfield family of eight as they slept

In May 2002, the Chishti family were asleep inside their home on Osborne Road in Birkby.

As the family of eight slept that night, petrol bombs were thrown into their home and poured through their letter box to be set on fire. The horrific blaze killed the entire family.

The victims were Mohammed Ateeq-Ur-Rehman, 18, his sister Nafeesa Aziz, 35, and her five children Tayyaba Batool, 13, Rabina Batool, 10, Ateeqa Nawaz, five, Aneesa Zawaz, two, and Najeebah Nawaz, just six months old. Ateeq and Nafeesa’s mother Zaib-Un-Nisa, 54, also died in hospital after she jumped from a window trying to escape the blaze.

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Shaied Iqbal was convicted of eight counts of murder in 2003. Nazar Hussain and Shakiel Shazad were both found guilty of eight counts of manslaughter at the same time.

Shahid Mohammed, 19 at the time, was also investigated for his role in setting the fire, but fled to Pakistan. He managed to stay on the run for years before he was extradited back to the UK in 2018.

He then finally stood trial and was found guilty of eight counts of murder for his role in the attack. His minimum sentence was increased to 27 years in 2020 after the Court of Appeal found the original term of 23 years was “unduly lenient”.

During Mohammed’s trial, Leeds Crown Court heard that before the fire he had taken against his sister Shahida’s boyfriend, Saud Pervez. Prosecutors said at the time that 18-year-old Ateeq was likely the target of the arson attack because he had played an “active part” in maintaining the relationship.

After Mohammed’s conviction in 2019, West Yorkshire Police’s Det Chief Supt Wallen said the crime was then “the biggest single event of multiple murders that West Yorkshire Police has investigated.”

Before his death, Ateeq-ur-Rehman had been chosen by his college to become an ambassador. His brother Mohammed Shafique was deeply proud of his younger sibling as he paid tribute to him after his death.

The family had moved to the UK from Pakistan in the 1980s – Zaib-un-Nisa flew out with her children to join her husband Abdul Aziz Chishti, who was teaching at a mosque, in 1988. Nafeesa had stayed in Pakistan, where she married Rab Nawaz Khan in 1983.

Nafeesa flew to visit England with the four children she had at the time to visit when Mr Chishti was in hospital. She was pregnant with her fifth child when she arrived, and gave birth to Najeeba at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary in 2021.

It was a difficult birth, and so the family asked the Home Office to extend the family’s stay for six months so she could recover. The family were packing away toys for a flight in a few weeks time when the awful attack happened.

Rab Nawaz Khan was left to fly to the UK to mourn his family – including Najeeba, who he’d never even had the chance to meet. Mr Chishti died in 2017, and was buried alongside his family members who died in the attack in Pakistan.

Last year, remaining members of the Chishti family came together in Huddersfield to mark the twenty-year anniversary of the horrific murders on May 12, 2002.

West Yorkshire Police Chief Constable Robins, said at the memorial: “I have been proud to attend this service to pay our respects to those who lost their lives in an appalling and truly terrible crime.

“The dignity, courage and grace shown by the Chishti family never faltered during our investigation, including the many years it took to locate and bring back Shahid Mohammed to answer for what he had done.

“I know this was a criminal investigation that involved many different officers, and many of them became deeply involved. I pay tribute to the determination and tenacity of all the officers and staff involved in the investigation to secure justice for the Chishti family.

“My thoughts remain with the Chishti’s and I want to thank them for the opportunity to attend today’s very poignant event.”

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