Shafilea Ahmed's teacher tells court she 'saw injuries'

A woman who taught Warrington girl Shafilea Ahmed saw injuries which the teenager claimed were caused in a "beating" from her parents, a court has heard.

Joanne Code said Shafilea also ran away from home and said she would not go back because "they are going to marry me off in Pakistan".

The teenager's parents, Iftikhar, 52, and Farzana, 49, deny murdering Shafilea at home in Warrington, Cheshire, in September 2003.

Mrs Code, who taught Shafilea German at Great Sankey High School, told the jury at Chester Crown Court the teenager was a "very, very good student".

Later, in September 2002, Mrs Code was head of sixth form when Shafilea began her A-levels.

The teacher said she was "always immaculately dressed, her hair was always straight, no make up on and her uniform was pristine" and "was very, very clear she wanted to be a barrister - that was her dream, that was her ambition".

Little more than a month after she joined the sixth form, Shafilea was absent from school and Mrs Code telephoned the family home and spoke to Mr Ahmed, being "surprised" when he said Shafilea wanted to leave college and "burn her books".

"She came in and she had bruising to her neck and a cut on her lip. She told me her mother and father had beat her and that they had taken it in turns to do so while one held her down and then vice versa."

Shafilea disappeared in September 2003 and her body was found on the bank of the River Kent in Cumbria the following February. The prosecution claim she was killed by her parents because of her "Western" ways.

The teacher said Shafilea was "adamant" she did not want social services to become involved but the situation was monitored.