He stayed in his room, endlessly scrolling TikTok - then she was dead

“He wants perfection - behaves like an executioner king if it’s not right"

Arms folded, with a strikingly large ‘xXx’ tattoo on the back of his bald head, in the hotseat of a crown court, he pretended to cry.

He was on trial for the brutal murder of his son’s wife. She had been strangled in her own home and left at the bottom of the stairs.

The former security guard claimed he was asleep at the time. But his phone activity showed something else.

His TikTok obsession laid bare his movements as well as the toxic environment that left a 24-year-old woman dead.

Nadeem Begum, 53, now faces life imprisonment after jurors found him guilty of murder.

'The best wedding in town'

It began in January 2024. Begum met with relatives of Mashal Ilyas with the purpose of arranging her marriage to his son, Gulrez.

She was a university graduate, with the equivalent of a Masters degree in English. Her family were liberal and supportive of her, and she had a close relationship with her mum.

It was a lavish affair in Multan, Pakistan, with Begum himself describing it as ‘the best wedding in town’.

The happy couple remained there for a few weeks before Gulrez moved back to Manchester, and a few weeks later Mashal followed. His family were responsible for sponsoring her, and so she moved into the family home.

It was a busy household. Also living there was Gulrez’s brother, Danish, with his wife and two children, his two sisters and his parents.

Gulrez and Mashal shared the upstairs bedroom. They were happy, spending every day together and enjoyed each other’s company.

But a dark cloud hung over Mashal. One that gradually restricted her freedom in her own home.

The reality of life at home

Begum was a trained security guard. He had worked at various stores and had been trained in restraining techniques.

He’d been signed off work a year before due to damage to his toe caused by diabetes. And so he remained at home, keeping to his room, and scrolling endlessly on TikTok.

Whilst he stayed in his room, he made it clear that he expected Mashal to take up the extra work around the house.

In messages to her family and friends, Mashal voiced her concerns. Begum took particular umbrage that she was only cleaning for her husband, and informed her that she was expected to cook and clean for the whole family - including the children.

She described him as ‘authoritarian’, with him demanding she take a traditional role. She had been used to a more liberal family life and struggled to accept her new reality.

The restrictive lifestyle led to many arguments between her and her new father-in-law, something she talked about frequently with her mum back in Pakistan.

She called it ‘intolerable’ and ‘toxic’ and suggested that her new family would accept it if he raised a hand towards her.

Things came to a head when she asked if her aunt could come and stay over. As part of Walima, family and friends would visit the newlyweds to congratulate them. However, when Mashal asked, Begum instantly refused.

Gulrez came home to find Mashal in tears. All she said to him was ‘uncle’ - a nickname for Begum.

A row erupted between him and his dad. He told a court that he shouted and swore at him. He threatened that the couple would leave if he spoke to Mashal like that again.

Whilst Gulrez and his father made amends, Begum ignored Mashal right up until 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.”

The last phone call before a tragedy

It was then on October 9, after the majority of the family had gone to work (Gulrez included), Mashal went about her duties.

She served Begum his breakfast at around 7.30am, alongside his wife. He woke up with the rest of the house, scrolled on TikTok, ate breakfast and then went back to his room.

Gulrez, who had earlier prayed with Mashal before getting a lift to work from his brother, sent Mashal a ‘good morning’ message. Her reply was short, something that struck Gulrez as ‘a bit weird’.

Back at the house, Mashal was busy putting clothes onto the washing line in the back garden.

At trial, Begum was asked what he was doing. “Spending most of my time on TikTok or go to sleep,” he said.

He said he saw Mashal at breakfast and didn’t see or hear her as she did chores. She later sent a video to her mum showing off her slippers.

“I was on TikTok again. I must have been lying on the bed, scrolling through videos, listening to music. That’s what I normally do,” he told a jury.

His phone then remained locked between 10am and 11.05am.

At around 10.15am, Mashal had been on a phone call with her mum and was on the phone for around five minutes before telling her she needed to tend to the washing machine. She left her phone on her bed, with her mum waiting on the call.

Begum claimed he was asleep, then woke to go and use the toilet at around 10.30am when he found Mashal collapsed on the floor. In fact, as found by a jury, he had attacked her and strangled her to death.

He said he shouted for help and sat with her, speaking her name and rubbing her hand. He claimed he didn’t know the number for an ambulance and instead called his son, Danish.

“Are you medically trained?” his barrister, Ayaz Qazi KC asked.

“No, if somebody falls ill, you take them to the hospital,” he said. He also explained that he didn’t call Gulrez because his other son, Danish, was the one with the car.

After calling Danish and telling him to come to the house because there had been an ‘emergency’ he initially claimed that somebody had broken into the house and attacked Mashal as he slept.

He then said that he found her as he got up to use the toilet.

Emergency services were called, but she was pronounced dead at the scene. A post mortem report later revealed bruising to the neck, face, bruising to her arm, a broken finger nail and blood on the surface of the brain.

Her cause of death was recorded as pressure to the neck and upper airway obstruction.

Mashal had fought for her life during the attack, scratching Begum to the neck. Swabs taken from her nails revealed his DNA, as did a healing scab to his neck which was discovered upon his arrest.

Officers later found that he had changed his passcode to his phone when they arrived at the house. He said they later told him that she had passed away.

“How did you react?” his barrister asked.

Appearing to burst into tears, he replied: “I broke down.”

Phone analysis

Examination of his phone revealed that days after he had an image on his phone showing strangulation restraints. It also revealed he had been on TikTok at 6.49am until 7.25am, then at 7.45am, then again at 9.45am.

During a line of questioning from his own barrister, he denied knowing that she had died by way of strangulation until the trial.

“Why the strangulation image on your phone?” Mr Qazi quizzed.

“I don’t know,” Begum said, arms folded.

But it wasn’t until cross examination by the prosecutor, that Begum’s true feelings about the woman he called his ‘daughter’ were revealed.

“Did you know Mashal as a person? Did you like her? Did you think she was nice?” prosecutor Mark Rhind KC asked him.

“Very respectful. She cooked good food,” was Begum’s reply.

“Was she funny? Was she kind? Was she genuine?” he was pressed.

“She was good. She was a good person. She was good with family, spent time with them,” he said.

Jurors were told that he had been to the doctor for ‘anger issues’, something he later denied 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, voice raised.

However, a note on Marshal’s phone described the true nature of Begum’s controlling ways.

“He wants perfection - behaves like an executioner king if it’s not right” she wrote.

Ultimately, Begum’s control of his daughter-in-law was compounded by his obsessive use of TikTok, which he had stopped using moments before ending her life.

He faces sentence later this year where he will be jailed for life.