Husband-killing newlywed jailed

Mr Miah was described as religious, gentle and hard-working

A woman has been jailed for life for stabbing her husband to death a month after their wedding.

Mahmuda Khatun, 28, stabbed Mohammed Amin Miah through the heart on his 28th birthday in August last year.

An Old Bailey judge rejected claims that Khatun, who denied murder, had been put under pressure to marry Mr Miah and said the killing was "wicked".

Khatun, an optician's shop assistant, of Bow, east London, was told she would serve at least 17 years in prison.

Khatun had been born in Bangladesh and came to Britain with her family when she was six.

A previous arranged marriage had failed and the court heard she had enjoyed a freer life in her own flat before she returned to her family.

Judge Barker told Khatun: "You went into this with your eyes open. It may be that Amin turned out to be a disappointment to you."

Crispin Aylett QC, prosecuting, said she had hidden a knife in her burkha disguise when she arrived at the marital home in Bethnal Green, east London.

It was the young widow, the defendant - it was she who had murdered her husband of just 33 days Crispin Aylett QC

He said: "As he opened the door to her, he must have seen his bride in a burkha, not clothing she usually wore, before she plunged the knife into his heart.

"Thereafter, the defendant set about creating a smoke-screen that was designed to put her beyond suspicion."

Khatun initially said that on the night of the murder she had been locked out of the flat and looked through the letterbox to see blood on the walls in the hallway. But mobile phone records proved her wrong.

"It was the young widow, the defendant - it was she who had murdered her husband of just 33 days," he said.

Khatun told the court that she had accidentally stabbed her husband during a row when she was trying to leave him.

Mr Miah had been a religious, gentle, hard-working kitchen porter at a West End casino, the court heard.