An abusive man who pushed his pregnant wife from the Edinburgh landmark, Arthur’s Seat, days before she was set to leave him has been jailed for at least 20 years for her murder.
Kashif Anwar, 29, from Leeds, was found guilty of the September 2021 murder of Fawziyah Javed, 31, and that of her unborn child, after a six-day trial at the high court in Edinburgh.
Javed was about 17 weeks pregnant when she was pushed from Arthur’s Seat, the ancient volcano that looms large over the Scottish capital, falling 15 metres (50ft) to the ground below, causing several blunt force injuries and ultimately her death.
She used her dying words to reveal it was Anwar, her abusive husband, who executed the fatal push, telling witness Daniyah Rafique: “Don’t let my husband near me, he pushed me.”
A police constable, Rhiannon Clutton, 35, was told by Javed at the scene that her husband did it because she “told him I wanted to end [the marriage]”.
Judge Lord Beckett imposed a mandatory life sentence on Anwar with an imprisonment period of a minimum of 20 years. He told Anwar: “You have been found guilty of murdering Fawziyah Javed who was a very special person.
“She was your pregnant wife and you also caused the death of your unborn child.”
He told the killer that his victim was willing to trust that he would keep her safe when they went up Arthur’s Seat, but that he pushed her off when no one else was around.
The judge said Javed’s mother, Yasmin Javed, had described her daughter as a “beautiful soul inside and out” who was a popular woman.
Jurors were visibly upset after the result, some crying, and the judge thanked them for the “admirable way” they had performed their duties.
In a statement, Javed’s mother said: “There are just no words to describe the depth of pain and grief. There’s no words in the English dictionary that go deep enough.”
The court heard Anwar was overheard in hospital, a month before the murder, telling Javed that if she died in childbirth it “would be OK” because he “would be free”.
A midwife spoke to Javed, who worked as an employment lawyer, about her concerns after Anwar was overheard speaking to his wife at Leeds general infirmary on 23 August 2021.
Elizabeth Petty, 41, said a patient told her Javed was told: “If you died during childbirth that would be OK. I would be free.”
The midwife told the jury that, when asked if that was what was said, Javed, from Leeds, had confirmed it was, and that she appeared scared and upset.
Francesca Cooper, 34, was in the bed next to Javed’s and had reported the conversation.
“I could hear him repeatedly call her a bitch,” she told the court, “repeatedly saying he should never have married her, wishing he never married her, and if one of them died during childbirth that would be good because they would be free from one another.”
