TikTok star Mahek Bukhari and her mother sentenced to life in prison for the "cold-blooded murder" of two young men

Influencer Mahek Bukhari and her mother, Ansreen Bukhari, have been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders of Saqib Hussain and Hashim Ijazuddin. The mother-daughter duo were found guilty at Leicester Crown Court of recruiting a gang to murder the 21-year-olds.

Hussein threatened to expose an affair he had had with the tiktoker's mother, saying he would post explicit images of her. The Bukhari's lured him to a parking lot, where they promised to give him back the £3,000 he claimed to have spent throughout his relationship with Mahek Bukhari.

However, Hussein and his friend Hashim Ijazuddin were ambushed in the middle of the road by a gang of masked men. After a 100mph chase, his Skoda Fabia crashed into a tree and was immediately engulfed in flames.

The BBC reported the details of the trial, including what Judge Judge Timothy Spencer KC had to say: "The prosecution categorized this as a story of love, obsession and extortion and they are right. They were also right in categorizing this case as one of cold-blooded murder."

He addressed Mahek Bukhari and said, "Your tawdry fame through your career as an influencer has made you entirely self-obsessed."

Five other defendants were found guilty, with sentences ranging from 11 years and eight months to life in prison.

Two key videos

Local media shared two videos that were part of the evidence presented at the trial. One shows Mahek Bukhari lying to the police about what happened and another shows the vehicles that were later used to run Hussain and Ijazuddin off the road.