Shafilea sister - 'I was not beaten'

A sister of Warrington girl Shafilea Ahmed has denied telling a friend she was beaten by her parents and they threatened to kill her.

Mevish Ahmed also denied telling Shahin Munir she should "give police her diaries" if anything happened to her.

Miss Ahmed, 21, was giving evidence for a second day in the trial of parents Iftikhar, 52, and Farzana, 49, who are accused of murdering 17-year-old Shafilea at home in Warrington, Cheshire, in September 2003.

Andrew Edis QC, for the prosecution, told the jury about an incident in April 2009 when she was arrested on suspicion of stealing money from the family home.

He said: "You spoke to Shahin and told her that afterwards you were beaten by your mother and your father, thrown on the floor and they said that you should go to Pakistan right now and talked about finishing you and threatened to kill you."

Miss Ahmed said: "No, I fell outside the house."

The prosecution claims that Miss Ahmed had fallen out with her parents but "returned to the family" after they promised to withdraw the theft allegation. Mr Edis said: "You had been arrested and investigated for the theft of #600 from your own house and you said (to Miss Munir), 'I'm going back home, if anything happens to me give police the diary'."

Miss Ahmed replied: "I don't recall that at all."

Earlier in the trial, older sister Alesha Ahmed described how the parents pushed Shafilea onto the settee in their house and she heard her mother say "Just finish it here" in Urdu as they forced a plastic bag into the teenager's mouth and suffocated her in front of their other children.

The couple, of Liverpool Road, Warrington, deny murder.

The jury was sent home and the trial will resume on Wednesday at 10am.