Woman fell 50ft to death from Arthur's Seat, court told

A pregnant woman who was allegedly pushed to her death by her husband at a popular Edinburgh landmark fell up to 50ft (15m), a court has heard.

Kashif Anwar, 29, from Yorkshire, denies killing his wife Fawziyah Javed, 31, at Arthur's Seat in September 2021.

He has been acquitted of a charge of behaving in a "threatening or abusive manner" after it was dropped by prosecutors on Tuesday.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard that Ms Javed died from multiple injuries.

The court was told an assessment was made by mountain rescue services from the spot the expectant mother fell from and where the first impact occurred when she landed on the hillside. Jurors heard the distance was between 40 and 50ft (15m).

A cone was placed at the impact site and a small tent was placed over her before her body was recovered from Arthur's Seat.

Det Sgt Christopher Edmunds was shown photographs of a route below the summit of the hill where he said there was a sharp drop with the cone below.

He told advocate depute Alex Prentice KC that if you were on that path you would be aware of the drop.

The prosecutor asked whether it looked like an easy route to take to descend from the summit and the officer replied: "No".

Asked if it would require any experience to come to that conclusion, the detective said: "No."

He agreed that there would have been plenty of opportunity to turn back.

Defence counsel Ian Duguid KC asked the officer that if he was right and it was "so obviously dangerous" why had people followed this path previously.

Det Sgt Edmunds responded: "I have no idea. I can't speak for what other people have done."

Forensic pathologist Ralph Bouhaidar, who examined Ms Javed's body, said he concluded that the cause of death was complications from multiple injuries and "complications from falling from height".

He told jurors that Ms Javed, who was from Pudsey near Leeds, had injured her spine close to her skull and that she had suffered rib fractures as well as injuries to her liver.

The court heard there were signs of bleeding and evidence of her brain not receiving enough oxygen in the moments after she fell.

Dr Bouhaidar told the court: "Taken together - the bleeding, the fractures, the pain, the fact that she's pregnant - all of this would have led to complications. Her heart will have stopped. Her lungs will have stopped.

"What I am trying to say is that her death was multi factorial - when taken together that would have led to her death."

As prosecutors then closed their case against Mr Anwar, Mr Prentice said he was withdrawing a charge - an allegation that Mr Anwar behaved in a "threatening or abusive manner" which was likely to cause a "reasonable person to suffer fear or alarm" in that he repeatedly shouted at Ms Javed at Residence Inn by Marriott, in Edinburgh's Quartermile.

Judge Lord Beckett acquitted Mr Anwar of that charge.

Det Con Emma Todd told jurors that officers managed to track Mr Anwar and his wife's movements in the hours before Ms Javed's death using CCTV footage.

The court heard how the couple shopped and dined in the city centre before walking through the Waverley Station and Canongate areas.

The pair also walked past the Scottish Parliament close to Holyrood Park, the home of Arthur's Seat.

Det Con Todd told the court that both Mr Anwar and his wife walked closely together during the trip. She added: "They were arm in arm for most of the way."

The trial continues on Wednesday.