Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman to meet Pakistan officials to make extradition plea

A top-level meeting is to take place in the latest bid to get a murder suspect back to Huddersfield.

Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman has secured a meeting with the New High Commissioner for Pakistan in London.

And he hopes to get help to bring fugitive Shahid Mohammed back to face justice in the UK.

Mr Sheerman confirmed he has been granted a meeting with Syed Ibne Abbas within the next few days.

The confirmation follows months of wrangling behind the scenes since Shahid Mohammed was detained in Pakistan last year.

He is a suspect in Huddersfield’s worst mass murder case and is still being held in custody in Pakistan.

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Shahid Mohammed was originally arrested only days after the horrific firebomb attack in Osborne Road, Birkby, in May 2002 which claimed eight lives including those of five young children.

But he was bailed and vanished within hours meaning it is now nearly 14 years since he was supposed to appear in court in this country and face justice.

Others behind the terrifying early-hours petrol bomb attack on the Chishti family home were caught and jailed but the family know the case can never be brought to an end while one man is on the run.

Mr Sheerman has been in constant touch with police the Foreign Office and the Home Office about the case.

Now he hopes the High Commissioner meeting may help still further in getting an extradition arrangement. There is no formal treaty between Britain and Pakistan.

Mr Sheerman said: “I raised a question about it in the Commons but did not get any answers.

“But I did speak to one of the Foreign Office ministers and he assured me matters are being taken very seriously.

In pictures: Birkby fire murders suspect Shahid Mohammed

Shahid Mohammed then (right) and how he may have looked in 2013

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“Now we have received confirmation that I can have a meeting with the new High Commissioner and I hope he can use his influence.

File photo dated 13/05/02 of the scene following a house fire in Osborne Road, Birkby, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, in which eight members of a family were killed over a decade ago, as Shahid Mohammed, 32, a suspect in the multiple murder investigation, has been arrested. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Wednesday February 18, 2015. Five children and three adults from the Chisti family died in the fire and one man was convicted of murder and two of manslaughter following the attack. But Mohammed failed to answer bail and has been sought by police ever since, with numerous appeals made for his whereabouts. Reports say he has been arrested in Pakistan. See PA story POLICE Birkby. Photo credit should read: Phil Noble/PA Wire

“It is one small step but we will keep pushing for justice”.

A spokeswoman for West Yorkshire Police said: “Shahid Mohammed is still in custody in Pakistan while the Pakistani authorities progress with the matter of extradition to the UK.

“This is something that the UK authorities have no input or control over and it is a matter for the Pakistani authorities.

“West Yorkshire Police officers are in contact with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and authorities in Pakistan and will be notified by representatives from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office should there be any significant updates.”