JUDGE Mr Justice Roderick Evans slammed Shafilea’s parents for ‘squeezing’ her between two cultures before killing her.

After an 11-hour wait for a verdict, Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed, of Liverpool Road, Great Sankey, were both sentenced to a minimum of 25 years behind bars after suffocating their daughter in front of their other four children.

Mr Evans said: “You chose to bring up your family in Warrington but, although you lived in Warrington, your social and cultural attitudes were those of rural Pakistan and it was those which you imposed upon your children.

“Shafilea was a determined and ambitious girl who wanted to live a life which was normal in the town in which you had chosen to live.

“However, you could not tolerate the life Shafilea wanted to live. You wanted to live in Pakistan in Warrington.”

He added the couple’s expectations of living in a ‘sealed, cultural environment’ were ‘unrealistic, destructive and cruel’ as the conflict between Shafilea and her parents escalated to the point where the 17-year-old tried to escape by running away and later drinking bleach.

Mr Evans added: “Your problem was that, in what you referred to as your ‘community’, Shafilea’s conduct was bringing shame upon you and your concern about being shamed in your community was greater than your love of your child.

“In order to rid yourselves of that problem, you killed Shafilea in the presence of your other four children.”

The high court judge said their actions had also ‘blighted’ the lives of their four remaining children after instilling ‘warped’ values in their son Junyad and placing Mevish in the ‘sad position’ of denying her own words after her letters were read out in court.

He added there was ‘no difficulty seeing the life which laid ahead’ of their youngest daughter, who cannot be named for legal reasons, if she had continued to live with them.