'Toxic' dad stayed in his room scrolling TikTok – then son's wife was found dead

A former security guard strangled his son's wife and left her body at the bottom of the stairs before claiming to have been asleep at the time of the murder. He had, in fact, been in his room scrolling through .

Nadeem Begum, 53, now faces life in after found him guilty of . Begum had been signed off work for about a year before the October 9 killing due to damage to his toe caused by diabetes. He would remain at home, mainly keeping to his room and scrolling endlessly on TikTok. While in his room, he had made it clear he expected his son's wife Mashal Ilyas to do extra work around the house.

Mashal had an arranged marriage to Begum's son Gulrez and moved into the family's home in from Multan, Pakistan. She shared the space with Gulrez's brother Danish and his wife, two children, his two sisters and his parents.

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In messages sent to her family and friends, Mashal shared concerns about life in the home. Begum had become particularly angry that she had been only cleaning for her husband and told her that it was expected for her to cook and clean for the whole family.

She went on to describe Begum as "authoritarian," and said he had demanded she take a traditional role in the household. She had been used to a more liberal family life in Pakistan and struggled to adapt to the new reality.

She would get into many arguments with Begum and described him as "toxic" and suggested her new family would accept it if he hit her. The issue came to a head she asked if a friend could stay, but Begum instantly refused.

When Gulrez arrived home, he found Mashal in tears and started an argument with his dad. He threatened they would leave if he spoke to his wife like that again. Gulrez and Begum would make up but the dad would continue to ignore Mashal up to the day he killed her.

In a note found on her phone after her death, she had written: "Fed up with all the duties. No respect. They don’t speak to me. I don’t speak much. Negative energies facing me."

Day of the killing

On October 9, Mashal made Begum breakfast at about 7:30am when he was alongside his wife. He scrolled TikTok, ate his breakfast then returned to his room.

Gulrez, who had prayed with Mashal before getting a lift to work from his brother, sent his wife a "good morning" message, reports. Her reply was short, which Gulrez found "a bit ."

When asked what he was doing, Begum told the court: "Spending most of my time on TikTok or go to sleep." He claimed to have seen Mashal at breakfast and didn't see or hear her as she did chores around the house.

Mashal called her mum at about 10:15am and was on the phone with her for about five minutes before telling her she needed to tend to the washing machine. She left her phone on her bed with her mum waiting.

Begum claimed he had been asleep, then woke to use the toilet at about 10:30am when he found Mashal collapsed on the floor. But he had, in fact, attacked and strangled her to death.

He claimed to have shouted for help and sat with her, and that he called his son Danish as he did not know the number for an ambulance. He told Danish to come back home as there had been an "emergency" and claimed someone had broken into the house and attacked Mashal while he slept.

Emergency services were alerted but she was pronounced dead at the scene. A post mortem found bruising around her neck, face and arm as well as a broken finger nail and blood on the surface of her brain. Her cause of death was ruled as pressure to the neck and upper airway obstruction.

DNA find

In the struggle for her life, Mashal scratched Begum at his neck. Swabs taken from her nails revealed his DNA as did a scab on his neck that was discovered upon his arrest. Officers later found he changed the passcode to his phone.

An examination of his phone found he had an image of strangulation restraints. It also showed he had been scrolling on TikTok from 6:49am until 7:25am then again at 7:45am and again until 9:45am that day. At the trial he denied knowing she had died by the way of strangulation.

When asked why he had a strangulation image on his phone, Begum said: "I don't know." He later claimed to have thought Mashal was "very respectful." But his true feelings for her were revealed, as was that he had been to the doctor for "anger issues," something he would deny in court.

“Is the truth that you are an angry man who demands to get his own way?” the prosecutor asked him. “I never enforce myself on anyone,” Begum replied, with his voice raised.

But a note on Mashal's phone described him as being controlling. She wrote: "He wants perfection - behaves like an executioner king if it’s not right." Begum will be sentenced later this year and faces being jailed for life.