Rania "raped and beaten", court told.

The uncle of a dead mother-of-three, whose body has never been found, has told a court that he believed her husband "could harm her".

Ali Aydi, from Sheffield, told jurors at Manchester Crown Court that Rania Alayed described being raped and beaten within her marriage to Ahmed Al-Khatib.

Giving evidence with the assistance of a translator, her uncle told the jury: "Rania spoke about beating marks on her body and was mentally distressed about it.

"She would cry...insisting that she wanted a divorce.

"She said Ahmed could harm her."

Rania, 25, from Cheetham Hill in Manchester, vanished in June last year.

Prosecutors say her husband and his brother, Muhaned Al-Khatib, murdered the young mother because she sought independence and was becoming "too westernised".