Edinburgh: Man guilty of murdering wife by pushing her off landmark

Anwar, from Leeds in Yorkshire, denied the charge but was convicted after a week-long trial.

Ms Javed, who was around 17 weeks pregnant when she was pushed, used her dying words to reveal it was her abusive husband who caused her to fall around 50ft down the hillside.

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Daniyah Rafique, 24, managed to reach to the dying employment lawyer on the side of the landmark in the Scottish capital, where she was told: “Don’t let my husband near me, he pushed me.”

The court heard Pc Rhiannon Clutton, 35, was told by Ms Javed her husband pushed her because she “told him I wanted to end (the marriage)”.

The couple had travelled to Edinburgh on what Anwar said was a ‘mini-moon’.  He claimed his wife slipped and fell in an accident on the hillside. 

But prosecutors were able to use Fawziyah’s own testimony to expose her husband’s lies. 

Kashif Anwar was convicted at the High Court in Edinburgh (Image: Police Scotland)

At the High Court in Edinburgh, prosecutors were also able to show Anwar had been abusing Fawziyah for months prior to the trip, controlling and threatening her as well as subjecting her to violence.  

Fawziyah had logged reports with West Yorkshire Police in interviews which were captured by officers’ body-worn cameras – and played to the jury by the Crown. 

The 31-year-old woman recounted how Anwar held a pillow over her face and punched it repeatedly.  In another incident, she was left bleeding and unconscious after struggling with him. 

Prosecutors from The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service led evidence that Fawziyah had provided this personal testimony to police on two separate occasions in 2021 – the last being just six days before her death. 

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Scotland’s Procurator Fiscal for Homicide and Major Crime, David Green, said Fawziyah’s bravery in reporting the abuse helped convict her husband of her murder. 

“This young woman was being degraded and controlled by her husband, but she found the strength to place on record what was going on. 

“Her own words – which were recorded by West Yorkshire Police – helped us prosecutors show that the tragedy on Arthur’s Seat was the terrible culmination of a campaign of abuse.” 

Natasha Rattu, Executive Director of the Karma Nirvana charity reads out a statement behalf of the family of Fawziyah Javed outside the High Court in Edinburgh. (Image: PA)

The Crown also led as evidence Fawziyah’s recordings of telephone conversations with her husband in which he threatened and abused both her and her family.   

Mr Green added: “Kashif Anwar ended the lives of his wife and his unborn child. 

“We were able to expose his lies on how Fawziyah fell to her death, partly through the evidence provided by Fawziyah herself.   

“We are grateful to our partners in police forces north and south of the border, for assisting us in the pursuit of justice. 

“Our thoughts are now with the family of Fawziyah Javed as they try to come to terms with their dreadful loss.”