Murderer who stabbed teenage girl to death in Rotherham honour killing could be free in four years

A man who fatally stabbed his teenage lover and then pushed her into a canal near Meadowhall in an ‘honour killing’ could be free in just a few years.

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Ashtiaq Asghar was 18 when he murdered Laura Wilson, 17, in 2010 after the teenage girl revealed details of their secret relationship to his family.

It is understood Asghar’s family had wanted him to marry a Muslim girl.

Laura’s body was pulled from a canal just a few days later. She had been repeatedly stabbed in what South Yorkshire Police described a "a sadistic attack on a young girl". Laura was a young mum who had been reported missing by her family two days before her body was discovered.

The judge who sentenced her killer said he believed that Asghar had treated white girls as "sexual targets" and not like human beings.

Asghar, of Holmes Lane, Holmes, Rotherham, admitted murder.

He was ordered to serve a minimum of 17-and-a-half years behind bars when he was sentenced in December 2011, meaning he could be eligible for parole in mid 2028.

However he could be released earlier if the time spent on remand waiting for his case to reach court is taken into account.

Speaking after the sentencing hearing, Detective Superintendent Mick Mason, of South Yorkshire Police, said: "It was a sadistic attack on a young girl. The last moments of Laura’s life must have been terrifying."

The judge who sentenced her killer said Laura’s death had been "simply an exercise in punishment" because of "trouble " Laura had brought to the door of Asghar’s family home.

Laura had been known to social services since 2005 and was thought to have been at risk of sexual exploitation.

Following a review into her death, Alan Hazell, chairman of Rotherham Local Safeguarding Children Board at the time, said it was a complex and tragic case and there were times when agencies could have done more for the teenager.

Speaking after Laura’s killer was sentenced, her mum, Maggie Wilson, said to The Daily Mirror: “He’ll be in his 30s when he’s released – still young enough to have a life. He could have children if he wanted – how is that fair?”

She described her daughter’s death as “an honour killing.”