Man murdered pregnant wife by pushing her off Arthur's Seat

A man has been jailed for a minimum of 20 years for killing his pregnant wife by pushing her 50ft off a cliff edge at an Edinburgh beauty spot.

Kashif Anwar, 29, killed 31-year-old Fawziyah Javed when she plunged from a rocky outcrop on Arthur's Seat during a holiday in September 2021.

As she lay dying, Ms Javed, from Yorkshire, told a police officer her husband had pushed her.

Anwar claimed he had slipped and bumped into his wife.

The jury at the High Court in Edinburgh rejected that defence and found him guilty of murdering Ms Javed, who was 17 weeks pregnant, and causing the death of her unborn child.

Anwar, from Pudsey, near Leeds, was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 20 years.

Judge Lord Beckett told him that his wife had been entitled to his protection and that he was guilty of a "wicked crime".

He said: "You showed no remorse and made no attempt to save her." 

During a week-long trial at the High Court in Edinburgh, the jury heard Ms Javed's mother say she believed her daughter was in a violent, coercive marriage.

Yasmin Javed said her daughter told her she planned to leave Anwar after a four-night mini-break to Edinburgh.

And as she lay dying on Arthur's Seat, she told a police officer Anwar had pushed her as she had tried to end the relationship.

The court heard how Anwar, a student optician, first met Ms Javed, an employment law solicitor, when she accompanied her mother to buy new glasses.

They began a relationship after meeting again soon after.

Her mother told the court that Anwar and his parents visited her family in November 2019 to express his desire to marry her daughter.

They tied the knot on Christmas Day in 2020.

But Ms Javed soon began to feel worried about Anwar's behaviour.

She said she was very close to her only child and that her daughter had spoken to her about her husband's abusive behaviour.

Ms Javed's mother also said her daughter had told her she was contemplating leaving the relationship within a few months of marrying Anwar.

Anwar, who did not give evidence in court, told police officers that after arriving in the capital on 1 September 2021,he and his pregnant wife had a lie-in until 10:00 the following day before having breakfast.

As well as visiting Harvey Nichols and Mulberry, Anwar said they had also visited music store FOPP and a couple of "Harry Potter" shops.

Anwar said they had decided to visit Arthur's Seat, an extinct volcano in Holyrood Park, at the bottom of Edinburgh's famous Royal Mile, after dining at the food chain Wagamama's.

They arrived at the famous hill at about 19:30 and started climbing in order to see the sunset.

But the pair arrived too late and decided to go back down the hill.

It was then they decided to take a selfie on a rocky outcrop.

Anwar told police: "We were below the summit. I lost my balance and fell into her.

"I heard her go over the edge and say 'oh my foot' and she started screaming. I heard a thud."

Ms Javed had fallen 50ft (15m) down the cliff.

But although she had a visible head injury she was able to speak for a short time while she lay dying on the hillside.

The first person to reach her, hillwalker Daniyah Rafique, said: "She told me not to let her husband near her and that he had pushed her."

Then police officer, PC Rhiannon Clutton, arrived at the scene. She said: "She was writhing in pain but she was able to speak to me when I asked her questions.

"She said she asked the woman what had happened and said her response was: 'He pushed me'."

The police officer added that Ms Javed said her husband had pushed her as she had tried to end the relationship.

She then went into cardiac arrest and died at the scene from multiple injuries.

Later that night Anwar was arrested for murder.

Det Con Steven Caballero said Anwar asked how many years he would get and said his life was ruined now.

He asked if he would get bail, but then said "probably not, not for murder".

The detective said the murderer then asked about Edinburgh prisons and what Saughton jail was like.

During the trial, Ms Javed was also heard in a phone recording with Anwar calling him "a disrespectful person" and said he was "horrible".

In the recording, she asked: "Which husband treats his wife the way you do?"

Speaking on behalf of Ms Javed's family after the hearing Natasha Rattu executive director of domestic abuse charity Karma Nirvana, said: "There will never be closure or justice for us. This is a lifetime of grief and pain. Our life sentence began the day our daughter was brutally murdered.

"She was the perfect daughter, granddaughter niece, a friend and a mother-to-be - a successful lawyer who had the whole of her life ahead of her.

"Fawziyah has left the biggest void in our lives. The spark has gone out of our lives forever. "