Muslim convert mum was 'banned from seeing family then stabbed to death, dumped in woods and torched'

A man accused of murdering his wife, tried to fool police by sending a text message to her phone after she was already dead, a court has heard.

Leeds Crown Court heard that Sinead Wooding, a Muslim convert and mother-of-four, called police the night before her husband stabbed her to death. But by the time officers visited the house, she was already dead.

The court heard how the 26-year-old was "forbidden" from seeing her family and friends by her husband Akshar Ali, 27, of Scott Hall Road in Leeds.

The crown allege that Ali and his friend Yasmin Ahmed, 27, stabbed Wooding before bludgeoning her with a claw hammer during a drunken argument.

The jury was told that her body was found with six stab wounds to the chest and a further 12 blows to her head caused by a claw hammer.

The pair are alleged to have hidden her body in Ali's cellar for two days, before wrapping her corpse in a carpet and driving to secluded woodland, where they set it on fire, reported the Daily Mail.

Her badly disfigured body was found on 14 May - four days after her frantic 999 call - with Ali texting her phone, saying: "The kids miss you and so do I."

Prosecutor Nicholas Campbell QC said according to BBC News: "At 11.30am on Saturday morning (of May 13) the officer expected to speak to Sinead Wooding, but found Akshar Ali at the address with Sinead's older children.

"He told the officer the other children were being looked after by his mother because Sinead Wooding hadn't come home. He told the officer that this happened frequently when she was drinking. "

The officer asked questions about the night the call was made and asked questions to the children. "He spoke to his superiors and advised Akshar Ali that he should contact the police if she didn't come home within 24 hours."

Also charged is Ali's 45-year-old mother Aktahr Bi, who denies assisting an offender by making arrangements to dispose of Wooding's corpse; Ali's 21-year-old brother Asim Ali, who denies assisting an offender by procuring a vehicle and assisting in the disposal and burning of her body; and Yasmin Ahmed's friend Vicky Briggs, 25, who denies assisting an offender by helping clean up and burn material after the alleged murder.

Ali and Ahmed both deny murdering Wooding. The trial continues.