Body of restaurant owner was scattered over two counties

A RESTAURANT owner was shot in the head, dismembered and his body parts scattered over two counties, a court heard yesterday.

Leeds Crown Court was told that an off-duty police officer found Nissar Ahmed's severed left leg in two pieces wrapped in carrier bags in woodland at Briestfield, near Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.

His intestines, with 22 stab wounds, were also found in a plastic bag near by. Following the discovery on 13 November last year, more body parts were found over several days, including Mr Ahmed's head, which had been set on fire.

Zahid Iqbal, 31, of Cleckheaton, near Bradford, has pleaded not guilty to murder.

Mr Ahmed, 34, of West Bowling, Bradford, the owner of several restaurants in Yorkshire, was last seen taking staff home from one of his restaurants on the day before the discovery of the body parts near Dewsbury, said Robert Smith QC, for the prosecution. He told the court that Mr Iqbal shot Mr Ahmed from two feet away with a sawn-off shotgun.

Mr Smith said that following Mr Iqbal's arrest he denied any knowledge of the death, then claimed self-defence before changing his story again.

The jury was told that Mr Iqbal and Mr Ahmed had been friends for some years.

After being arrested in connection with Mr Ahmed's death, Mr Iqbal told police: "I would not murder him, he was my brother."

The trial continues today.