Rania Alayed: Police search A19 lay-by for missing murdered woman

Police looking for the body of a woman who was murdered by her husband in a "pre-planned honour killing" ten years ago have begun a "detailed search" of a lay-by, a force has said.

Mother-of-three Rania Alayed, 25, from Manchester, went missing in June 2013.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said "new information" had led officers to a lay-by on the A19 near Thirsk in North Yorkshire, where Ms Alayed had lived.

The force said it remained "committed to finding Rania".

Ahmed Al-Khatib's trial in 2014 heard he killed Ms Alayed, who also previously lived in Norton on Teesside, at his brother's flat in Salford.

He claimed he killed his wife in self-defence after an evil spirit entered her, but was found guilty of murder and jailed for life with a minimum term of 20 years.

Sentencing Ahmed, Mr Justice Leggatt said Ms Alayed had suffered "years of abuse".

"The contempt you showed for Rania in death matched the contempt of how you treated her in life," he said.

Ahmed's brothers Muhaned and Hussain were also jailed for helping to dispose of her body.

The court heard Muhaned told police Ms Alayed had been buried by a lay-by on the A19 in North Yorkshire.

A third brother, Hussain Al-Khatib, was found guilty of perverting the course of justice and jailed for four years.

After her disappearance in 2013, GMP said it was searching a 15-mile (24km) stretch of the road near Thirsk.

A force representative said "following new information for a non-recent investigation", its major incident team had been "authorised to begin looking at land on the side of the A19 near Thirsk".

They said officers would be "on location to carry out a thorough search of the area identified and will keep disruption... to a minimum".

They added that the force remained "committed to finding Rania and will act on all available lines of enquiry when it is possible to do so to help bring some form of closure to her loved ones".

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