Husband who killed wife in knife attack as she pushed pram jailed for life

A controlling husband who “viciously and mercilessly” murdered his wife in a knife attack while she was pushing their baby in a pram has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 28 years.

Kulsuma Akter was left bleeding to death by 27-year-old Habibur Masum, who had stalked her to a women’s refuge in Bradford and attacked her in broad daylight.

Masum, 27, was told he is “violent, self-centred, jealous, controlling and coercive” by judge Mr Justice Cotter on Tuesday as he was sentenced at the city’s crown court.

The judge also told Masum: “You stole a precious young life in a brutal and merciless fashion.”

Ms Akter’s brother Emran Hussain said her death had left her family with “such a deep, painful void in our lives”.

In his sentencing remarks, the judge told Masum: “It is indeed a sad fact that it can be very difficult to entirely protect a woman in a refuge from a determined and cunning man intent on confrontation.”

Mr Justice Cotter said the “nature and extent” of his attack “proves beyond all reasonable doubt that you intended to kill her”.

Jurors previously heard Ms Akter had attempted to escape Masum by staying at the refuge in Bradford after the killer had held a knife to her throat at their home in Greater Manchester.

The judge told Masum that “such was your behaviour, Kulsuma was able to predict her own death at your hands”.

The killer was told that his fatal attack on his wife was “the most serious of domestic abuse offences” and that it represented a “violation of the trust and security that normally exists between people in an intimate relationship”.

Masum found that Ms Akter was staying at the refuge through her phone location, and loitered in streets around the hostel as well as sending her messages threatening to kill her family members if she did not return to him.

The defendant also sent her fake messages from a local GP practice pretending their son had an appointment to try to lure her out of the refuge.

The judge said his preparation for the attack was “calculating behaviour” and that his actions when he killed Ms Akter were “calm and collected”.

Speaking about the murder, Mr Justice Cotter said: “It was a sustained and excessively violent attack, and Kulsuma suffered mentally and physically before her death as she tried to protect herself.

“The attack was in a busy city centre location on a Saturday afternoon – a shocking event which any of those involved are unlikely to ever forget.”

The judge said he was satisfied Masum’s personality included a “strong tendency to be controlling, angry, jealous and possessive”.

Prosecutor Stephen Wood KC told the court that Masum’s leave to stay in the UK had been extended until June 2025 due to him being a graduate.

He said the prosecution had been informed “there is a very high likelihood” deportation would be pursued.

Masum travelled almost 200 miles south to Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, and was arrested in the early hours of April 9 in a car park near Stoke Mandeville Hospital, where he had gone to be treated for “lockjaw”.

The killer met and married Ms Akter in Bangladesh, and came to the UK in 2022 after he obtained a student visa and enrolled on a Masters course to study marketing.

They moved into a house in Oldham together in September 2022.

On November 23 2023, he became jealous over a “completely innocuous” message Ms Akter received from a male colleague and held a knife to her throat.

He was arrested and Ms Akter decided to leave him, being moved to the Bradford refuge by Oldham social services in January 2024.