A social media influencer and her mother have been jailed for life for the murder of two men who died when their car was rammed off the road.

Saqib Hussain and Hashim Ijazuddin, both 21, died when their car crashed in Leicestershire in February 2022.

It happened after Mr Hussain threatened to reveal an affair he and Ansreen Bukhari had been having, jurors heard.

She and her daughter Mahek Bukhari were jailed for at least 26 and 31 years respectively on Friday.

Leicester Crown Court heard the Bukharis “lured” Mr Hussain to a meeting in a Tesco car park in Leicester, saying he would be given back £3,000 he claimed to have spent on his lover during their relationship.

They planned to take his mobile phone from him, believing it contained explicit images of Ansreen, 46, which he had threatened to reveal.

However Mr Hussain, and his friend Mr Ijazuddin, who accompanied him, were then ambushed by a masked gang, recruited by the Bukharis, and chased along the A46 at speeds of up to 90mph by two cars, before crashing into a tree in a ball of flames.

Mahek, 24, was ordered to serve at least 31 years and eight months in prison, with Ansreen’s minimum term of 26 years and nine months handed down by Judge Timothy Spencer KC.

The judge said: “The prosecution categorised this as a story of love, obsession and extortion and they are right.

“They were also right in categorising this case as one of cold-blooded murder.”

The judge said TikTok and Instagram, where Mahek Bukhari had amassed tens of thousands of followers posting beauty and fashion advice, were at the heart of the case.

He told Mahek: “Your tawdry fame through your career as an influencer has made you entirely self-obsessed.”

He said her “warped values” had led to her having “no apparent awareness” of the impact her actions had on others.

The judge said Ansreen’s head had been turned by the “perceived glamour” of her daughter’s career, with her often appearing in posts online and attending promotions and shisha bar openings.

He said it was a world removed from her life as a mother and housewife in Stoke-on-Trent.

He told her: “You are the grown-up in this group and you should have behaved as the grown-up but you allowed your understandable concern about exposure to strip you of your reason.”

He said she had made a “calamitous decision” to ask for Mahek’s help with Mr Hussain.

Earlier on Friday, the court heard statements from the families of the victims, in which the parents of Mr Hussain and Mr Ijazuddin said their lives had been changed forever by their deaths.

Mr Ijazuddin’s father, Sikandar Hayat, said his son, who accompanied his friend Mr Hussain to the rendezvous that ultimately led to their deaths, had been “innocent”.

He said he could not understand why the defendants had not called the emergency services to get help after the crash.

“They left him and his friend to burn in a furnace of hell,” he said.

In a statement read on their behalf, Mr Hussain’s family said his parents had been left as “two lifeless corpses”, unable to eat or drink in the run-up to their son’s funeral.

Also sentenced for murder were fellow defendants Rekan Karwan, 29, from Leicester, and Raees Jamal, 23, from Loughborough, who were recruited by the Bukharis and driving the pursuing cars.

Karwan was sentenced to a minimum of 26 years and 10 months, while Jamal – who the court heard is serving a rape sentence – was jailed for at least 36 years and 45 days.

Natasha Akhtar, 23, from Birmingham; Ameer Jamal, 28, and Sanaf Gulamustafa, 23, both from Leicester, were cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter.

Akhtar was jailed for 11 years and eight months, Ameer Jamal was jailed for 14 years and eight months, and Gulamustafa was sentenced to 14 years and nine months in prison.

By George Torr, BBC News

The heartbreaking saga for the Hussain and Ijazzudin families is finally coming to an end.

It’s difficult to put into words just how painful it has been for them since their sons’ deaths back in February 2022.

Mr Hussain’s father Sajad and Mr Ijazzudin’s father Sikander have spent every minute inside this courtroom in Leicester, making the journey every day from their Oxfordshire home to the East Midlands.

Mahek Bukhari, the ringleader, is now a shell of her former self the press have observed.

She shared smiles and laughs with other defendants during quieter parts of the trial, and casually played board games in the precinct when the jury retired.

She even waved and laughed at reporters outside with cameras from a balcony in the court foyer just hours before she broke down in tears when she was convicted of double murder.

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