Investigators have revealed how fingerprints on a cooker and blood in a taxi left a failed asylum-seeker with nowhere to turn after he was arrested on suspicion of murdering a Stoke-on-Trent mother-of-four.
Staffordshire Police used the evidence to build up a picture of Dana Abdullah's movements during and after the brutal attack which saw him stab his wife 50 times.
Detectives made the arrest after Abdullah walked into a Glasgow police station a day after murdering Avan Najmadeen at her 'safe' house in Glebedale Road, Fenton, last October.
But police still had to prove the 35-year-old was their man.
Their investigations revealed:
- He ripped off his electronic tag fitted by the Home Office on the morning of the murder and left it in Lancashire;
- His fingerprints were on Avan's gas cooker which placed him in the kitchen where her blood-covered body was found face down;
- A 'highly-flammable solvent' on Avan's clothes and charred paper which were part of Abdullah's failed attempt to cause an explosion to cover his tracks;
- Traces of Avan's blood in the taxi which Abdullah booked to take him to Liverpool following the attack.
The jigsaw of evidence has been revealed as the defendant, of no fixed address, was yesterday handed a life sentence after admitting murder. He must serve at least 19 years and 60 days in prison.
Stafford Crown Court heard Abdullah smashed his way into Avan's home while their four children at school. He then stabbed her with a knife which was already inside the property and has never been found.
The pervert had already been deported from the UK after serving a prison sentence for sexually assaulting a girl. But he sneaked back into the country and murdered Avan after she failed to support his immigration application, met a new man and 'dishonoured' him by converting to Christianity.
Following yesterday's case, Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) spokesman Jason Corden-Bowen said “Avan Najmadeen had suffered years of abusive and threatening behaviour at the hands of her husband which led to her moving away with her four young children and filing for divorce.
“The CPS presented a strong case to the court, including forensic evidence that confirmed the fingerprints found in the kitchen belonged to Abdullah, and that the traces of blood found in the taxi, belonged to Ms Najmandeen.
“This was a horrific, callous attack that not only robbed a young woman of her life but also four children of their mother. Our thoughts remain with the victim’s family.”
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