Syrian man who tried to cut wife’s head off in frenzied attack jailed for life

Belfast Telegraph - 08/04
A Syrian asylum seeker who tried to cut his wife’s head off and left her to bleed to death on their children’s bedroom floor has been jailed for at least 19 years and six months.

Wahib Albaradan, 37, used two knives and a razor in a “prolonged, persistent and frenzied” attack on Salam Alshara, 27, at their home in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, in November 2023.

He then removed any phones that could be used to call for help from the house and fled the scene, being arrested the next morning after a large police manhunt.

Police at the scene in Dewsbury following the death of a woman in a ‘domestic-related incident’ (Dave Higgens/PA)

On Tuesday Albaradan, who pleaded guilty to murder, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 19 years and six months by a judge who said he was a “jealous and controlling husband who bullied and manipulated (Ms Alshara)”.

Leeds Crown Court heard the couple had married in their native Syria and had four children but Albaradan, who was a farmer, had been an “angry and jealous” husband, leading Ms Alshara to almost divorce him at one point before he convinced her and her “loving family” that things would change.

Albaradan came to the UK in 2020 and Ms Alshara joined him in 2021, with a neighbour in Dewsbury saying she was “timid and withdrawn” but “seem...
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