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Man who stabbed wife to death in Bradford street found guilty of murder Man who stabbed wife to death in Bradford street found guilty of murder
(32 minutes later)
Habibur Masum launched ‘ferocious’ knife attack on Kulsuma Akter as she pushed their baby in pram after escaping to women’s refugeHabibur Masum launched ‘ferocious’ knife attack on Kulsuma Akter as she pushed their baby in pram after escaping to women’s refuge
A “violent, jealous, controlling” husband who stabbed his wife to death as she pushed their baby in a pram after tracking her to a women’s refuge has been found guilty of murder. A “violent, jealous and controlling” man who stabbed his wife to death after tracking her and their baby son to a women’s refuge has been found guilty of her murder.
Habibur Masum launched a “ferocious” knife attack in broad daylight on Kulsuma Akter before leaving her “bleeding to death in the gutter” and calmly walking away, leaving their seven-month-old son behind. Habibur Masum, 26, launched the “ferocious” attack on 27-year-old Kulsuma Akter as she pushed their baby in a pram, and walked away, leaving her “bleeding to death in the gutter”.
A court heard Masum, 26, followed Akter, 27, to a refuge in Bradford where she had been staying to escape him after he held a knife to her throat after an assault at their home in Greater Manchester. Akter had fled to a refuge to escape his “violence, jealousy and controlling behaviour”, Bradford crown court heard, but Masum tracked her down and confronted her on the street in Bradford, West Yorkshire, on 6 April 2024.
After finding her through her phone location, Masum was seen on CCTV in the days leading up to the fatal attack “loitering, watching and waiting” in streets around the hostel, jurors heard. Akter was stabbed more than 25 times in the attack after Masum found her through her phone’s location. Masum was seen on CCTV in the days leading up to the fatal attack “loitering, watching and waiting” in streets around the refuge, jurors were told.
He sent her messages threatening to kill her family members if she did not return to him, before trying to lure her out by sending her fake messages from a local GP practice pretending their son had an appointment and warning of “increasingly dire consequences” if she did not attend. Following a four-day hunt, police found Masum 150 miles away in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, and arrested him.
Bradford crown court heard Akter eventually felt safe enough to leave the refuge on 6 April last year after Masum updated his Facebook page falsely claiming to be in Spain. He denied murdering Akter; instead, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter and possession of a knife. He also claimed he intended to end his own life in front of his wife, but “totally lost control”.
As she was walking in the city centre with a friend, pushing her baby in a pram, Masum confronted her, the trial heard. Masum was also convicted of one count of assault, making threats to kill and one charge of stalking, but was cleared of another charge of assault.
He was seen on CCTV trying to steer Akter and the pram away before pulling a knife from his jacket and launching the “brutal attack” when he realised she was not coming with him, the prosecutor, Stephen Wood KC, told jurors. The court heard that Masum had a history of violence towards his wife, and that she had told a social worker she “believed that one day her husband would kill her”.
CCTV footage of the attack, played during the trial, captured Akter’s screams as Masum stabbed her at least 25 times, put her on the ground and kicked her “as a final insult” before lifting her head and deliberately cutting her throat. At the time of Atker’s murder, Masum was under strict bail conditions to stay away from her, after holding a knife to her throat at their home in Greater Manchester.
Wood said the “smiling killer” then calmly walked through Bradford city centre and was seen on CCTV grinning as he got on a bus, “believing at that point he was getting away”. Prosecutor Steve Wood KC told the jury Masum tracked Akter to Bradford and, days before the attack, tried to lure her into leaving the refuge by pretending to be from a GP’s surgery and offering her fake appointments.
Jurors heard Masum travelled almost 200 miles south to Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, and was arrested in the early hours of 9 April in a car park near Stoke Mandeville hospital, where he had gone to be treated for “lockjaw”. He said the relationship between Masum and Akter was “an abusive relationship characterised by his jealousy, possessiveness and controlling behaviour”.
During the trial, Masum refused to watch footage of the attack but jurors heard that during his first police interview he requested to see it, with Wood saying he wanted to see what officers “had on him”. Akter was accompanied by a friend as she pushed her seven-month-old son in a pram when Masum, whom she thought was in Spain, confronted her.
When he gave evidence, Masum said he did not remember killing his wife and had taken a knife with him intending to stab himself in front of her if she did not “listen to him”. CCTV from around 3pm showed Masum walking with Akter until he stopped her, spun her and the pram around, and stabbed her, causing her to fall to the ground. Masum then continued “a ferocious and deadly attack” that Wood called “cold-blooded, calculated, premeditated murder”.
He broke down in tears as he claimed to have “lost control” when Akter told him there would be no shortage of people willing to replace him as a father to their son. “As a final act of sheer gratuitous violence, he kicks Kulsuma before moving away, but not before ensuring that he disposed of the knife,” the prosecutor added.
But Wood said his tears “were as fake as his claims of self-harm” and that “the only person Habibur Masum feels sorry for is himself”. He said the “smiling killer” then calmly walked through Bradford city centre and was seen on CCTV grinning as he got on a bus, “believing at that point he was getting away”.
He said antagonising Masum was “the very last thing Kulsuma would do” as she knew what he was capable of. Providing testimony through his Bengali interpreter, Masum told the jury he was “still optimistic” he could save his marriage when he tracked down his wife, but if that did not work, he thought: “I will just kill myself in front of her.”
Wood said the relationship between Masum and Akter was “an abusive relationship characterised by his jealousy, possessiveness and controlling behaviour”. He added that he “totally lost control”, and that the next thing he could remember was walking along the road with bloodstains on his hand.
Jurors heard the couple met and married in Bangladesh, and came to the UK in 2022 after he obtained a student visa and enrolled on a master’s course to study marketing. DCI Stacey Atkinson of the homicide and major enquiry team was the senior investigating officer. She said: “Kulsuma suffered a brutal attack in broad daylight whilst her baby son was in his pram.
Masum had pleaded guilty to manslaughter but denied murder. On Friday he was found guilty of the more serious charge, as well as one charge of assault, one count of making threats to kill and one charge of stalking. He pleaded guilty to possession of a knife in public. “Masum carried out the murder, then calmly walked away as if nothing had happened. He left the scene and made his way out of the city to try and escape justice.
“A nationwide manhunt for Masum was launched, and he was subsequently arrested and charged with Kulsuma’s murder.
“Kulsuma’s family have been left absolutely devastated by her death, I hope today’s conviction will bring them a sense of justice in knowing that the man responsible for her death has been found guilty.