"I don't think my sister's killer should ever be released," says abuse survivor
A man who stabbed a teenage girl to death after she exposed their relationship to his family could be released this year.
But Laura Wilson’s family believes the killer should never be released.
Laura was just 17 when she was lured to Meadowhall and then stabbed nearby more than 40 times before being forced under the water in the South Yorkshire Navigation Canal.
Her sister, Sarah Wilson, has spoken to The Star about the murder and her fight for justice for her sibling.
“I hope she would be proud,” Sarah said of her beloved sister, as she shared her fears that the man who killed her could be released this year.
Sisters Sarah and Laura Wilson were born just 23 months apart. Pictures of the pair together show their similar smile and demonstrate their easy, sisterly bond.
That bond was forever severed when the sisters were both just teenagers, after Laura was murdered by her boyfriend Ashtiaq Asghar in the days after she told his family about their secret relationship.
Asghar lured Laura out to Meadowhall on the promise of rekindling their relationship, but instead launched into a frenzied attack, stabbing Laura more than 40 times before forcing her under the water at the South Yorkshire Navigation Canal.
The wicked crime was dubbed Britain’s first white honour killing. Laura had become a mum to a baby girl just a few months before she was killed.
Almost 16 years on from the horrific loss, and Sarah says she still has not properly grieved for Laura. She is now faced with the prospect of Laura’s killer being eligible for release within months.
The 17-and-half-year minimum term of Asghar’s sentence began when he was remanded into custody in October 2010, in the days following Laura’s death. He was also aged 17 at the time he killed Laura, and pleaded guilty to her murder.
Asghar, formerly of Holmes Lane, Rotherham, was 18-years-old when he was sentenced for Laura’s murder. Due to his age at the time of conviction, his sentence was classed as detention, but it works in the same way as the minimum term of a life sentence.
“They called it Britain’s first [white] honour killing, but where’s the honour in murder?” Sarah asked.
“I’ve got a feeling he’ll come out this year,” said Sarah, who claims her family were not given the opportunity to attend or provide a statement during Asghar’s last, unsuccessful parole hearing.
She added: “I feel angry. He stabbed her 46 times, 28 times to the head. He slit her throat, left her with gashes to her chest, to her eye.”
Laura was found to have suffered a number of defensive injuries.
“She didn’t go down without a fight and I’m very proud of her,” Sarah said.
“I feel like I’ve never been able to grieve for Laura, and I dread the day I do,” said Sarah, adding that she knows that when the grief does finally hit her it is going to be exceptionally painful.
When asked if she has any message for Asghar, Sarah said: “I would tell him he needs to be locked up for the rest of his life, no matter how much anyone says he’s changed, it’s not enough.
“If you can murder as a child, you can murder as an adult.”
Her sister’s murder is not the only ordeal Sarah has endured in her life.
In the years since Laura’s death, Sarah, now aged 35, has helped to bring seven of the men who sexually abused her as a girl to justice by coming forward and giving evidence in three, separate criminal trials.
She has also waived her right to anonymity to speak publicly about child sexual exploitation in Rotherham, which resulted in Sarah being groomed by at least 150 men by the age of 16 and was responsible for ruining the childhood of so many.
Sarah was amongst the 1,400 girls identified as having been sexually exploited by gangs of men, of predominately Pakistani heritage, in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013 in Professor Alexis Jay’s explosive report.
But Sarah’s main motivation for waiving her anonymity was to ensure that the truth is known about Laura’s death - and also her life.
This came after Sarah found a serious case review into Laura’s death, published in 2012, had conflated the lives of the two sisters, and alleged Laura was the one who had been groomed.
In reality, Sarah says Laura’s only exposure to grooming was the family impact of what Sarah was enduring, on an almost daily basis from the age of 11.
Laura was involved with a number of agencies in the area due to having learning difficulties, and being placed into a specialist school.
“She became involved with all of those services when she went to a disabilities school,” Sarah explained.
“Laura wasn’t groomed, there’s so much misinformation about her, and so many fabrications.
“I’ve always said my life has been put on Laura’s life. They said she was being groomed.”
“She had never been in children’s homes, or groomed.
“The majority of services, including Risky Business, were involved [with her] because of me. They were speaking to Laura about her feelings [about what was happening to me].”
“I want to keep her name out there to get the truth known,” added Sarah.
Now, as the dust settles from the final trial in which Sarah was relied upon to give evidence against her attackers, Sarah is preparing for a serious heart procedure.
Sarah had hoped that an operation she underwent in 2022 to have a mechanical valve fitted, would last for 20, or maybe even 30 years, but she is now waiting for another procedure.
Heartbreakingly, Sarah says that every time she has had a serious procedure she has wanted to momentarily die in the hope she would be momentarily reunited with Laura.
“Every time I’ve gone for open heart surgery, I’ve hoped I could die for just a minute so I could see her, and ask her if this is the right thing [to be doing]. I get my strength from her,” said Sarah.
She added: “I hope she would be proud.”
During the years when Sarah was being abused, the gangs of men who groomed her made her fear that they would attack Laura and her mum if she did not comply with their twisted demands.
In addition to isolating Sarah from those closest to her, it also resulted in her being placed into care following heightened tensions at home, and Sarah refusing to listen when her mum tried to stop her from going out.
“I couldn’t be close to Laura, because of the threats. They’d say if you don’t do this, they’re going to rape your mum, your sister,” revealed Sarah.
The two sisters managed to repair their relationship prior to Laura’s death, however. On the night Laura was killed, the pair had planned to stay in and watch a scary film with a takeaway pizza, but Laura never returned home.
Reflecting on what Laura was like, Sarah said: “She loved life, she loved her family and friends.
“She was the life of the party. She was an all-round decent girl, decent lass.
“She had her whole life ahead of her, and had it taken from her unfortunately.”
“I knew my sister’s dead body was in the canal”
The first sign Sarah had that things were not as they should be with her sister was after Laura failed to come home for a film and takeaway night as planned.
Just days earlier, the two sisters had gone to the family homes of both Ashtiaq Asghar and the father of Laura’s baby - a married friend of Asghar’s - and informed them of Laura’s relationships with the two males.
When Laura did not return, Sarah, then aged 19, put together a search party, and friends and family started combing the area - including the canal where Laura’s body was found - looking for her.
“I knew straight away what had happened, I knew straight away,” said Sarah.
“I knew she was down there, I knew she wasn’t alive.
“I said to people let me know if you find a piece of clothing, anything, and I’ll be right there.
“I was searching swamps, at one point someone said to me ‘Sarah, get out or you’ll be trapped in there’.
“My Nan and Granddad were coming from Wincobank [to join the search] and we agreed to meet on a bridge.
“There was a red patch on the floor, I don’t know how to describe it, it looked like berries with no berries.
“She said: “Sarah, whose shoe is this?” I screamed: ‘My sister’s there’. I tried to jump in.
“They said to me if I jumped into the water, I probably would have gone down with her.
“She was holding onto the side of the canal, under the water.
“She didn’t go down without a fight and I’m very proud of her.”
“You let my sister be murdered”
Courageous Sarah Wilson has now been speaking out about the horrific extent of child sexual exploitation in Rotherham for almost 12 years.
She was amongst the furious victims and survivors who confronted South Yorkshire’s then Police and Crime Commissioner, Shaun Wright, who was head of children’s services at Rotherham Council for several years during the period covered by Professor Alexis Jay’s explosive report into child sexual exploitation in the town.
Mr Wright drew anger and criticism from abuse survivors after he claimed he had not known of the scale of the abuse in the town during his time at children’s services - and would have done more if he had.
The criticism was compounded after Mr Wright refused to stand down from his role as PCC for three weeks after the Jay report was published in August 2014, despite pressure from the public and politicians, including the then Home Secretary.
Sarah spoke publicly at an emotionally-charged Police and Crime Panel meeting in September 2014, less than a week before Mr Wright finally resigned as PCC amid the mounting pressure.
She told Mr Wright: “How can you deny everything you have done?
“You can’t even look me in the face.
“You have done nothing to support us. You should stand down.
“You should go...you let my sister be murdered.”