Pregnant Pakistani woman burnt to death in Britain

LONDON - A 23-year-old pregnant Pakistani woman who came to Britain some nine months ago was burnt to death in her garden, a media report said Saturday.

It was not clear whether Asiyah Khan had set herself on fire or had been set alight by someone else, Daily Mail reported.

Neighbours said Khan arrived in the country earlier this year and had an arranged marriage.

She was rarely seen outside the house, which she shared with her husband Naveed, mother-in-law and two sisters-in-law.

Police are probing the incident.

No one has been arrested in connection with her death.

Emergency services were called to the residential street in Bradford at 7.15 p.m. Thursday, but Khan was pronounced dead at the scene.

Neighbour Debbie Gregoire said the family returned home from a shopping trip to find the house locked.

Naveed Khan climbed over the gate to find his wife’s body in the back garden.

Gregoire said: “Asiyah was beautiful, she was quite slight, you could just see the baby bump a bit.

“She was quiet and didn’t speak English but she would talk to her sisters and smile. You only ever saw her in the back garden but she seemed happy and would say ‘hello’.”

Neighbour Nasreen Khan said: “She wasn’t allowed out of the house, her family were quite strict.

“She lived with her husband’s family who brought her over from Pakistan eight or nine months ago.”

West Yorkshire Police said: “Police were called by the Fire Service shortly after 7.15 p.m. to reports of a 23-year-old woman with serious burns on Cloudsdale Avenue, Bradford.

“The woman was pronounced dead at the scene and inquiries are ongoing.”

Police are treating the death as suspicious and were canvassing for witnesses in the quiet cul-de-sac.