1:37pm Thursday 2nd September 2010
By Andy Edgeworth
A MAN and woman arrested on suspicion of murdering a teenager who was found in the River Kent in January 2004 have been released on bail pending further police enquiries.
The decomposed remains of Shafilea Ahmed, 17, were found on the river bank near Sedgwick.
She had disappeared from her home in Great Sankey in Warrington five months earlier, sparking a major police search.
Cheshire Police had held the pair for over 24 hours before releasing them on Friday afternoon.
A few months before her death Shafilea had refused an arranged marriage and, during a visit to Pakistan to meet a prospective husband, had drunk bleach.
Police initially suspected she had been the victim of an honour killing and arrested and questioned her parents on suspicion of kidnapping.
The Crown Prosecution Service later concluded there was insufficient evidence.
South Cumbria coroner Ian Smith returned a verdict of unlawful killing, saying he believed that the teenager was probably murdered.
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