Court of Appeal Upholds 26-Year Sentence for Ansreen Bukhari, Rejects Coercive-Control Mitigation

The Court of Appeal on Friday dismissed Ansreen Bukhari's appeal against her 26-year-nine-month sentence for the murders of Saqib Hussain and Hashim Ijazuddin. BBC News reported that a panel of three judges, led by Lord Justice Jeremy Baker, ruled the sentencing judge had set an appropriate starting point.

Bukhari, of George Eardley Close in Stoke-on-Trent, was convicted alongside her daughter Mahek Bukhari and two other men after a three-month trial at Leicester Crown Court.

James Millington KC, representing Bukhari, argued that the sentencing judge had set the bar too high by failing to treat coercive and controlling behaviour by Hussain as mitigation under the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024. He described a relentless campaign of blackmail and abusive messages that ramped up on the day of the chase, noting that police had received a similar report from an unrelated woman.

Lord Justice Jeremy Baker said the panel was quite satisfied that mitigating circumstances had been adequately considered.

He described Bukhari as a central figure in the plot who had many opportunities to stop the escalation of events. The murders occurred after Hussain was lured to a meeting on the pretence of recovering £3,000 he had spent during the relationship. Hussain had used three explicit videos of Bukhari to threaten her after the relationship ended.

Ijazuddin's car split in two and caught fire after hitting a tree at the Six Hills junction on the A46 in the early hours of 11 February 2022. Bukhari was found guilty of murder in August 2023. Her daughter Mahek Bukhari had her own minimum term reduced in a separate appeal last year.