Woman, 27, murdered her older sister in her own hallway by slitting her throat and cutting off her hand after having an affair with the victim's husband

A younger sister cut her elder sister's throat in half and severed her hand because she was having an affair with her husband.

Sabah Khan, 27, slaughtered her 34-year-old sister Saima Khan at their home in Luton because she wanted her brother-in-law Hafeez Rehmen for herself. Saima, a mother of four, was found in a pool of blood in the hallway of the property on May 23, 2016. 

Sabah pleaded guilty to murder and will be sentenced today at the Old Bailey. The court heard that Sabah Khan had been in a sexual relationship with her sister's husband Hafeez and wanted him to herself. She lay in wait for her sister before butchering her with a kitchen knife then pulled off her clothing to continue stabbing her as she lay dead. Sabah is believed to have virtually cut her older sister's neck in half and sawn her hand off in the savage attack which took place in the hallway close to the front door.

Two days before the attack, Sabah bought a knife from a Tesco store. Then on that fateful day, she waited until their family were out of the house attending a funeral at a local mosque before she attacked.  Saima's four young children were sleeping upstairs as she was murdered by her younger sister. She suffered 68 knife wounds in the frenzied attack, with deep wounds to her arms, skull and face. One knife wound passed through the left side of her neck, severing arteries and the jugular vein.

Other members of the family found the mother-of-four lying in a pool of blood when they returned late at night and called the police claiming burglars had broken in. Police sent to the scene initially investigated claims a burglar had broken into the property and carried out the killing. But eight days after the killing detectives arrested Sabah after the knife was recovered from a bin bag in her bedroom.  

Saima, who was also a care worker, had moved to England from Holland and lived with her sister, their parents, her children, and her taxi-driver husband. She was described by neighbours as a "quiet but friendly lady". 

Shortly after her death, her husband Hafeez paid an emotional tribute to her.

He said: "She was a loving mother to four beautiful children, a devoted wife, a beloved daughter and the most caring of sisters. She has been taken from us at the age of 34 and my children have been deprived of their mother.

"This was a junction in our lives where we intended to watch our children grow, to love them and spend quality time as a family and make memories. We have been left with a gap in our lives and we can only pray that she is resting in peace. As everyone can appreciate and understand that the circumstances have torn our hearts apart."

After the case the senior investigating office, Detective Inspector Adam Gallop described the murder as "a horrific crime."

He added: "This is any family's worst nightmare – it is beyond comprehension for the family to hear that one daughter has brutally murdered another. It has been a horrendous ordeal for them and we are pleased that we have received the guilty plea today. We continue to support the family, I'm not sure there can ever really be a closure, but what I do hope is that after sentencing they can hear what happened that night and start to move forward."

The home, where the sisters lived with their parents, Saima's husband and their four young children, has now gone on the market for £360,000.