The ‘warped’ TikTok star at the heart of double-murder case: How beauty blogger, 24, who recruited ‘followers’ to ‘jump’ her married mother’s 21-year-old lover became ‘utterly self-obsessed’ due to ‘tawdry fame’ garnered online

The lure of social media and the “tasteless notoriety” it brings were at the heart of a double murder committed by an influencer and her mother, a judge said yesterday.

Fashion and beauty blogger Mahek Bukhari, 24, and her mother Ansreen Bukhari, 46, who were both given life sentences, together created a deadly ‘maelstrom’ that resulted in the deaths of two men during a high-speed chase.

TikTok and Instagram influencer Bukhari recruited “followers” to “skip” the 21-year-old lover of her married mother, Saqib Hussain, after he blackmailed her and threatened to expose their three-year affair.

Mr Hussain, accompanied by his friend Hashim Ijazuddin, 21, was lured into a Tesco car park on the pretext that the mother and daughter would return him the £3,000 he said he had spent on Ms Bukhari during their affair.

But they were ambushed, chased by two cars carrying eight people, including Bukhari and her mother, and were killed in a fireball on the A46 near Leicester last February.

Judge Timothy Spencer KC, handing down a verdict at Leicester Crown Court, jailed the ‘self-obsessed’ Bukhari for a minimum of 31 years and eight months and her mother, who appeared in many of her online videos, for at least 26 years and nine months.

The judge pointed to the negative impact of social media in the background of the murders.

Turning to the daughter, he said: “Your tawdry fame throughout your career as an influencer has left you totally obsessed with yourself, with a completely unwarranted sense of entitlement and no clear sense of the impact you’re making. on others, and you are unaware of the harm you are doing.

“That your solution to your mother’s problems was to enlist some of your male followers to beat up Saqib Hussain speaks volumes about your warped values ​​and perhaps the false world of influence you so enthusiastically embraced.”

The court heard that Bukhari knew about her mother’s affair and was “happy to tolerate, if not approve of it.” Hussain was targeted when he threatened to tell Ansreen Bukhari’s husband and son about the affair.

Jurors were told a shocking 999 call Mr Hussain, a baker, made from the passenger seat of a Skoda Fabia while being chased down a dual carriageway at 70mph – which ended with a scream and the sound of a collision.

Mr Hussain told the handler, ‘They’re trying to ram me off the road. They’re trying to kill me.’

Rekhan Karwan, 29, of Leicester, and Raees Jamal, 23, of Loughborough, who drove the pursuing vehicles, were found guilty of murder and sentenced to a minimum of 26 years and ten months, and 36 years respectively.

The judge said Bukhari approached Karwan as an ‘intermediary’ before bringing in ‘Raees Jamal. He said it was no coincidence that Karwan took over driving the Audi during the fatal chase.

The judge also suggested that Jamal was enthralled by Bukhari, despite having a “sort of relationship” with co-defendant Natasha Akhtar, and that he liked to “do her bidding,” the BBC reports.

Akhtar, 23, from Birmingham, was sentenced to 11 years and eight months in prison, Ameer Jamal, 28, from Leicester, aged 14 and Sanaf Gulamustafa, 23, also from Leicester, aged 14 – all for manslaughter.

After Bukhari and her mother were sentenced to life in prison on Friday, the heartbroken families of the two victims paid heartfelt tributes.

Mr Ijazuddin’s family said that ‘he was only helping his friend and this resulted in his death’.

And Mr Hussain’s “shattered” family described the 21-year-old as a “dearly loved young man”, adding: “I don’t feel we have received justice as we have now been given a life sentence.”

Mr Ijazuddin’s family said after the sentencing: ‘The day we found out that Hashim had died, our world came crashing down. His death changed everything.

“Everyone who knew Hashim loved him. His death is not only a huge loss to our family, but to our entire community.

“Hashim was a cheeky young man who was always smiling, a handsome man who was beautiful inside and out. He would do anything for anyone, was very caring and had a very good heart.

“Hashim always put others first and did not hesitate to help others when they needed it. On that tragic day, he simply helped his friend and this resulted in his death.

“It has been extremely painful, not only to lose Hashim at such a young age, but also because of the circumstances in which we lost him.

“We will always be extremely proud of Hashim. Whatever he might have done in life, we know he would have excelled at it. Hashim was and will always be our superstar and our one-in-a-million.”

The family also thanked the police, the CPS and the public prosecutor for their support.

Mr. Hussain’s family added: ‘Saqib was a much loved young man. He was kind, compassionate, caring and wise.

My family has been shattered by this senseless act and we are still struggling to process the magnitude of our loss. I don’t feel we’ve gotten justice because we’ve now been given a life sentence.”

They added that they were “grateful that the courts saw through all the lies attributed to my son Saqib.”

The family continued, “Thank God the jury saw through and made the verdicts our children deserve. Saqib’s death has brought so much sorrow, not only to his family, but also to the many people who knew him.”

They also thanked the police, the CPS, support officers, local schools and the local mosque.

The heartbreaking statement continued, “I never thought I would have to bury one of my children; that every waking moment I suddenly expected him to come back and tell me that everything is fine; searching endlessly for his face when I’m in public, even though I know it’s impossible.

“This grief over the loss of Saqib has been compounded by having to relive the horror of my son’s death over and over again in court.

My family and I would like to say a huge thank you to Leicestershire Police for their dedication, thoroughness and painstaking hard work to ensure that those responsible for Saqib’s death do not evade justice.

‘We have the hope and confidence that Saqib has found eternal rest with Our Lord, and that we will be with Him again when we pass. We also pray that no family will have to go through our experience.”

Bukhari even kissed her father and told him to call me as she was taken away to serve life in prison along with her mother. She “laughed and laughed” during quieter parts of the trial and casually played games as the jury retired, the BBC reported.

Before her arrest 18 months ago, she boasted that she had more than 126,000 followers on TikTok and another 43,000 on Instagram.

The judge continued: “The prosecution categorized this as a story of love, obsession and extortion and they were right. They were also right to categorize this case as a cold-blooded murder.”

The judge said Bukhari’s mother’s head was turned by the “perceived glamor” of her daughter’s career.

He told her, “You are the adult in this group and you should have behaved like the adult, but you allowed your understandable concern about exposure to rob you of any rational judgment.”

Senior investigating officer on the case, Detective Mark Parish of Leicestershire Police, said it was a ‘callous and cold-blooded attack’.

Judge Spencer ended the hearing with a formal court recommendation praising the Leicestershire police officers involved in preparing the case for trial, as well as family liaison officers.

Another defendant, Mohammed Patel, was previously found not guilty of murder or manslaughter.