Wife had lied to police

THE wife of murderer Muhammed Arif was spared jail after pleading guilty to conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by lying to police about his movements on the night of the murder.

At Preston Crown Court, Amna Arif, 43, of Washington Street, Accrington, admitted giving false statements to the police about her husband’s whereabouts over the weekend of September 17 and 18, 2016, when Mohammed Yousaf was killed at his home in Accrington.

Prosecutor Gordon Cole told the court: “That statement amounts to this defendant providing a false alibi for her husband, saying in effect he had never been out of that house at the relevant times.”

Defending barrister Nadim Ahmed said Amna Arif was of ‘lower intellectual capacity’ and had ‘borderline learning difficulties’ as well as a number of medical problems.

He said: “In addition she is responsible for two children who have themselves learning difficulties and medical difficulties and to a large measure are dependant on her.”

Judge William Davis told Amna Arif that people who pervert the course of justice ‘usually go to prison’ but that he had decided not to jail her.

He said: “The lies you told the police were contradicted by everybody else the police spoke to.

“It was always accepted that he had left the house at the very same time you said he had stayed at home, so your lying was completely ineffective and whilst it was intended to interfere with the course of justice, it actually did so only to a very small extent.

“Whatever your own problems you’re the person who is the carer of two disabled children and I have to have regard that if I send you to prison they will be left, really, without anyone.”

Amna Arif was sentenced to a 15-month jail term, suspended for two years.