Millionaire held after fight with wife over son’s private schooling
‘Hadn’t spoken for three months’
A MILLIONAIRE property tycoon was arrested after a fight with his estranged wife over their son’s private schooling.
Mohammed Majid, 53, and wife Shazia, 45, had been sleeping in opposite ends of their £1.8million home and not spoken for three months when the row broke out.
Magistrates were told Mrs Majid went to talk to her husband because she was worried their seven-year- old son was unhappy at the £12,000-a-year grammar school he attended.
But after five hours of discussions the pair began brawling, with Mrs Majid later accusing her husband of dragging her across the floor by her ankle.
He also allegedly twisted her wrist and grabbed her by the neck, before throwing her out of his bedroom. She later started banging and kicking at the door and hurling abuse at him, the court was told.
Police were eventually called to the couple’s detached gated property in Bowdon, near Altrincham, Cheshire, and Mr Majid, who runs a property firm, was arrested at his office.
Details of the argument emerged at Manchester Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, when Mr Majid faced a charge of assault by beating. He admitted a row took place but was cleared of wrongdoing. He has now moved to a £700,000 home nearby and the pair are divorcing.
The court heard that the feuding couple, whose neighbours in their upmarket area include England cricket star Jimmy Anderson, had been married for 14 years and have two children aged seven and two.
But several years ago their marriage became strained and they started living at separate ends of their sixbedroom property. Mrs Majid, who runs a graphic design business, told the court the argument in February broke out after she went to talk to her husband about their eldest son, who was having a difficult time in the junior school part of fee-paying Manchester Grammar, around 1am.
‘We hadn’t spoken for three months and I wanted to clear the air about the schooling issues,’ she said.
‘He was not asleep – he was in bed but he was moving and I could tell he was awake. But my husband was ignoring and not giving me answers.
‘I was mostly speaking but he wasn’t listening.
‘We were chatting for a few hours and at about 6am he said: “Get out of my room.” But I said that it was my room as much as his and refused to leave.’
She claimed Mr Majid shouted: ‘Let me show you what I can do to you,’ before grabbing her buttock and dragging her across the bed. He later took her by the ankle and pulled her across the floor, she said.
‘I was trying to resist but he was very strong so I couldn’t do anything,’ Mrs Majid added.
‘He grabbed my right wrist and twisted it hard and pushed me around the bedroom, holding my neck, and with full force he threw me out of the door.’
Mr Majid agreed that there was an argument but he denied assaulting his wife.
He claimed that she was ‘ranting and screaming’ at him for hours and that he disagreed with her about their son’s schooling, telling the court he believed the child was ‘settled’ at the grammar school.
A police officer who saw Mrs Majid said she ‘seemed upset’ and he noted bruises to her wrist area and upper arm.
But magistrates found Mr Majid not guilty.
Dianne Webb-Hobson, chairman of the bench, said: ‘Whilst the main facts are not in dispute and a conversation did take place, we found Mrs Majid’s evidence inconsistent and Mr Majid’s consistent.’