TikTok murder trial defendant wanted to marry co-accused – but now ‘hates him’

A woman involved in the TikTok murder trial who had “hoped to marry” her co-defendant now says she hates him. Natasha Akhtar told the jury that she was only with the others on the night of the alleged murder because of Raees Jamal who she wanted to spend time with.

There have now been over 30 days in the trial at Leicester Crown Court, involving Stoke-on-Trent influencer Mahek Bukari and seven others, reports LeicestershireLive.

Akhtar is the latest to give evidence. She said had been speaking to Jamal for four months before the horror crash. She was a 21-year-old law student at Coventry University at the time. It’s alleged by the prosecution that Jamal rammed a Skoda off the A46, killing two 21-year-old men inside.

READ MORE: Jealousy, pride and revenge fuelled bid to kill ex-lover’s husband

But since her arrest – which involved a number of police cars and a police helicopter tracking her car along the M6 near her home city of Birmingham – she has come to hate Jamal.

Akhtar said before the fatal crash on Friday, February 11 last year, she wanted the relationship “to develop in a romantic way” and was “excited” they could be together. They spoke each day and saw each other every two days. She said: “We’d spend late nights together – I wouldn’t do that with a normal friend.”

She said they also went out for meals together as a couple but about three weeks before the fatal crash Jamal told her that he just wanted to be friends. She said she was “upset” but continued planning a future with him. Akhtar said: “It made me feel very upset. It was unexpected. I said to him why and he said he’d lost his feelings. It was confusing to me.” She said she continued to have strong feelings for him.

But when her barrister John Cooper KC asked how she felt about him now, she replied: “I hate him. Because I’m in this situation because of him. I’m in a double-murder trial because of him.”

The eight defendants are Natasha Akhtar (22) of Alum Rock Road, Birmingham, Ansreen Bukhari (45) of George Eardley Close, Tunstall, Mahek Bukhari (23) of George Eardley Close, Tunstall, Raees Jamal (22) of Lingdale Close, Loughborough, Rekan Karwan (28) of Tomlin Road, Leicester, Mohammed Patel (20) of Braybrooke Road, Leicester, Sanaf Gulammustafa (22) of Littlemore Close, Crown Hills, Leicester, and Ameer Jamal (27) of Catherine Street, Belgrave, Leicester. All deny murder.

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