Mother convicted of manslaughter

A mother has been found guilty of having her 13-year-old
daughter's boyfriend fatally attacked and then persuading her to take
the blame.

Gedu Bibi, 47, was convicted of the manslaughter of Sumon Miah, 21, at the Old Bailey today, and perverting the course of justice.

She disapproved of his relationship with her daughter Shuhina Khanam and was incensed after seeing topless photographs of the teenager that had been saved on his phone.

He was lured to her house in Walthamstow, east London, in October 2006, where he was hit over the head with a chair leg and died nine days later.

Bibi's former lover Lilu Miah, 48, was cleared of murder and manslaughter.

In a victim impact statement, Sumon Miah's brother Kawsar said: "What we have gone through is so unbelievably painful. The suffering never stops and you never stop thinking what could have been."

Describing Sumon's mother, he said: "She lost all faith in humans. Sometimes I have heard her crying in the early hours of the morning, which is difficult because there's nothing I can say or do to comfort her."

After Sumon Miah was attacked Bibi told her daughter to tell police that he had come at her with a knife, and she hit him to defend herself.

Her younger brother Fhalak, then 12, was told to back up the story.

There were discrepancies in the two children's accounts, but police had no witnesses to contradict what they said.

Members of the family also claimed that Sumon Miah had made abusive phone calls to Shuhina and left her too scared to go to school.

The case remained inactive until 2010 when a family friend of Lilu Miah, Monor Uddin, came forward with information.

Bibi will be sentenced at a date to be fixed.

PA