Man, 25, arrested over fatal stabbing of mother in street

POLICE investigating the fatal stabbing of a mother who was pushing her baby in a pram have arrested a 25-year-old man on suspicion of murder.

Habibur Masum, from Oldham, Greater Manchester, was arrested in the Aylesbury area of Buckinghamshire yesterday morning.

Previously, West Yorkshire Police said that a 23-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender and remains in custody.

Det Chief Insp Stacey Atkinson said: “This is a tragic incident, in which a mother has lost her life in the most horrific of circumstances ... we understand this has caused a considerable amount of concern in the local community.

“Local neighbourhood policing teams are patrolling the area conducting reassurance to the community.”

Kulsuma Akter, 27, was stabbed in the Westgate area of Bradford while pushing her baby in a pram on Saturday.

She was taken to hospital but later died. Because officers had contact with Ms Akter before her death, West Yorkshire Police has referred itself to the Independent Office of Police Conduct.

Ms Akter’s cousin, Aftab Miah, told the BBC that she was “polite and humble” and “made the people around her laugh”.

He said that her family were “devastated”, and that her mother in Bangladesh “cannot stop crying”.

Naz Shah, the Bradford West MP, visited the scene and said: “I’m here because of the shock and horror that it has sent through the constituency.”

After laying flowers, Ms Shah said: “There’s a problem across society when it comes to violence against women.

“A woman has lost her life while she was pushing a baby in a pram in broad daylight and, ultimately, we need services, we need more resources. But there is an issue, there is a culture that it’s OK to kill a woman, hit a woman – that is not OK.”

‘There is an issue, there is a culture that it’s OK to kill a woman, hit a woman – that is not OK’