How murder victim played crucial role in her husband’s conviction
Talented young lawyer Fawziyah Javed, who died when she was pushed off Arthur's Seat, played a crucial role in convicting her husband of her own murder, the prosecutor in the case has said.
A two-part documentary, The Push, which will air on Channel 4 tomorrowand Monday, tells Fawziyah's tragic story with footage from the High Court trial which ended with Kashif Anwar being found guilty of murdering her while the couple were on a weekend break in Edinburgh.
The 31-year-old from Pudsey, West Yorkshire, who was expecting her first child when she died, had twice logged incidents of domestic abuse with the police, as well as taping phone conversations with Anwar. And lying fatally injured on the slope of Arthur's Seat, she used her dying words to tell police that he had pushed her.
Advocate depute Alex Prentice, who led the prosecution, says in the documentary: "Fawziyah collected a great deal of evidence which formed the pillar of the prosecution case." And he adds it would have been "very difficult" to secure a conviction without her contribution. "The evidence of what Fawziyah said was crucial. It was effectively Fawziyah speaking to the jury."
A friend and colleague of Fawziyah's, identified only as Ingrid, says: "She built this massive mountain of evidence, culminating with giving a statement to the police on the verge of her dying. And the fact she was a lawyer, with all the legal training, I do think she must have thought about leaving this evidence behind. I remember feeling that she died like a lawyer."
In April 2023, 19 months after the murder, Anwar was sentenced to life imprisonment and told he would serve at least 20 years before he could apply for parole.
During the trial, the court was played some of the recordings made by Fawziyah, including one where Anwar tells her: "Who do you think you are? You're not a man so come back tomorrow like you've been told." She asks: "What's your problem?" And he replies: "My problem? Don't challenge me, do not be that British woman."
In another tape, Fawziyah is heard saying: "You've ruined my life." Anwar replies: "You end this, and I will ruin yours." And the trial heard that when Fawziyah was in hospital Anwar was overheard telling her that if she died in childbirth that "would be ok" because he would be free of her.
The woman in the next bed told the court: "I could hear him repeatedly call her a bitch, repeatedly saying he should never have married her, wishing he never married her, and if one of them died during childbirth that would be good because they would be free from one another."
Fawziyah was planning to leave her husband and return to live with her parents, Yasmin and Mohammed Javed. But her mother told the documentary that Fawziyah delayed the move because of a wedding party given by the groom's parents and then the trip to Edinburgh.
Ms Javed said: "Fawziyah was all about putting other people first and she wanted to cause as minimal damage as possible - she said 'Let me get this over and done with and then I'm going to leave him'. After the party they were going to Edinburgh on a break. I didn't want Fawziyah to go to Edinburgh but she was adamant. She said, 'In five days time I'll be back home for good.'
"The plan was they were coming back on the Saturday, which was Fawziyah's birthday; she was going to say to him 'I'm going to go home because my mum's got some presents for me' and then she wasn't going to go back."
But Ms Javed reveals she expected trouble from Anwar and got CCTV cameras fitted to her house. "She was going to come back to our house, have the baby in a safe environment, and be away from him - that was the plan. But he always said 'You're never going to leave me - that's never going to happen'. So I had CCTV cameras installed because I knew that once Fawziyah left him he wasn't going to leave it at that."
Ms Javed says in the film that on September 2, 2021, the day Fawziyah died, she spoke to her daughter at about 2pm and she said she was fine. "That evening I sent her text messages and she said she was going to go for a short walk. I asked her 'Have you eaten?' and she said 'Yes, we went to Wagamama's'."
The documentary shows CCTV images, which were seen at the trial, of the couple walking through Waverley station and past the Scottish Parliament on their way to Arthur's Seat.
And Ms Javed talks of her failed attempt to contact Fawziyah again. "Later on that evening I sent her a message asking her 'How was your walk?' and she didn't answer. I was worried but then I thought, well she's pregnant, she's probably really tired and she's probably gone to sleep. I thought, as soon as I wake up in the morning I'll ring her. The next day, at 5am, there was a knock on the door."
Ms Javed has said she took part in the documentary to help save lives by raising awareness about domestic abuse. At the end of the film she says: "He's behind bars, but it makes no difference to my pain and grief. I don't work any more, I don't socialise with my friends, I don't have that life that I had before. My husband has gone back to work three days a week – it's a bit of a distraction for him, but I know he's in pain and he's grieving.
"Nobody's immune to become a victim of domestic abuse. I want something positive to come out of this tragedy."
■ The Push is on Channel 4 at 9pm on Sunday, March 3, and Monday, March 4