Man who stabbed wife as she pushed their baby in pram guilty of murder

A man who stabbed his wife to death in front of their infant son after tracking her to a refuge has been found guilty of murder.

Habibur Masum stabbed Kulsuma Akter more than 25 times after confronting her in Bradford while she pushed their seven-month-old son in a pram in April 2024. The baby was unharmed.

Bradford Crown Court heard Ms Akter, 27, had been living in a refuge in the city since January after Masum held a knife to her throat at their home in Oldham.

Masum, 26, of Leamington Avenue in Burnley, had pleaded guilty to manslaughter and possession of a bladed article but was convicted of murder after a trial. He will be sentenced on the 22 July.

He was also convicted of one count of assault by beating, making a threat to kill and stalking.

His trial heard Ms Akter left the hostel to meet a friend on the day of the attack in the belief that Masum was away in Spain.

However, he later confronted her in the city centre having tracked her through her phone location.

Masum was seen on CCTV attempting to take control of the pram and steer Ms Akter away with him.

He pulled a knife from his jacket and repeatedly stabbed her after she refused to go with him.

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The trial heard he calmly walked away after the "ferocious" attack on 6 April and was pictured grinning on CCTV as he boarded a bus, with prosecutors describing him as the "smiling killer".

Masum then travelled almost 200 miles (321km) south to Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, sparking a nationwide manhunt.

He was arrested in the early hours of 9 April in a car park near Stoke Mandeville Hospital, where he had gone to be treated for "lockjaw".

Reacting to the conviction, Det Ch Insp Stacey Atkinson, of West Yorkshire Police, said Ms Akter had "suffered a brutal attack in broad daylight whilst her baby son was in his pram".

"Kulsuma's family have been left absolutely devastated by her death, I hope today's conviction will bring them a sense of justice in knowing that the man responsible has been found guilty," she said.