The wannabe dad influencer who killed his baby's mother in cold blood

To his 4,000 followers on social media, Habibur Masum appeared to be a doting dad creating his own online niche offering parenting tips to new fathers.

In one video, he demonstrated how to assemble a cot. In another, he was seen shopping for babywear in a High Street clothes store.

Offline, however, Masum was a dangerous domestic abuser who was consumed by controlling his wife.

But when Kulsuma Akter fled with the couple's baby son and found temporary safety in a refuge that sense of control was shattered.

Despite a court ordering him to stay away from his wife, Masum would not take no for an answer.

He set about trying to track down Kulsuma and the tech-savvy Bangladeshi-born student eventually succeeded.

On a Bradford city centre street in April 2024 Masum confronted Kulsuma, who was pushing their seven-month-old in a pram, and stabbed her 25 times before slitting her throat.

Masum then fled, leaving the child he claimed to dote on next to the body of his wife as she lay dying in the street on a Saturday afternoon.

The violence, and the brazenly public nature of it, shocked the nation.

Imran Khan, whose tailoring shop lies close to scene of the attack, tried to save Kulsuma's life.

He and one of his shop apprentices had counselling afterwards.

"When it happened we were all in shock. Then it kicked in later, and a week later it kicked in more and I couldn't stop thinking about it," he said.

Another nearby shopkeeper who tried to help was Geo Khan, who said Kulsuma used to regularly buy fruit from his store.

"She was down to earth, such a nice and lovely lady," he said. "What can I say? This shouldn't have happened to her."

Less than a mile away, and as emergency services worked at the scene, thousands of Bradford City supporters were watching their team play Gillingham.

The first many in the city heard of the attack was when a warning of an "ongoing police incident" nearby which would necessitate road closures flashed up on Valley Parade's big screen.

By that point, Masum had already begun his attempt to evade justice.

Rather than a man tortured by what he had done moments earlier, the then 25-year-old walked briskly but calmly away before getting on a bus.

Stephen Wood KC, prosecuting, told Bradford Crown Court during Masum's trial for murder that he had given a smile as he boarded public transport.

"There were no tears, there was no distress. Perhaps, members of the jury, the smile you can clearly see form as he gets on that bus is as a result of him thinking at that point he's getting away. The smiling killer," he said.

A nationwide manhunt began as police in West Yorkshire and forces around the country combined to find him.

Three days later, Masum was arrested 170 miles away from the scene of the attack in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.

He was transported back north where he would be charged and judicial proceedings would begin.

It would soon emerge that Masum was no stranger to court hearings.

The couple arrived in the UK from Bangladesh in March 2022 with Masum gaining student status as he pursued a qualification at the University of Bedfordshire.

Eighteen months later, in November 2023, and now living with his uncle in Burnley, he was charged with assaulting and threatening to kill Kulsuma during an incident in Manchester.

He denied the charges and was released on bail - but ordered to stay away from a number of people and addresses.

When questioned by police about his wife's injuries, he claimed she had inflicted them on herself as she did not want to return to Bangladesh once his visa expired.

The court heard he told police at the time: "She knows if you suspect your husband the law will take you and keep you safe so you won't have to go back home."

Throughout several preliminary hearings at Bradford Crown Court over the course of 14 months, Masum displayed little emotion as proceedings were relayed to him through an interpreter.

Even on 5 June this year, as he pleaded guilty to his wife's manslaughter, he did not appear uncomfortable or ill at ease.

Observers were struck by how youthful and small in stature the now 26-year-old looked in the dock.

He would later break down in tears as he gave evidence, vainly trying to persuade a jury he should not be convicted of his wife's murder on the grounds of "diminished responsibility" and loss of control.

His defence included the claim that he was the victim of a conspiracy by Kulsuma and her family so she could stay in the country.

Rather than a loss of control, the court heard how calculating Masum had realised his wife had not turned off a location setting on her phone which revealed to him where she was.

On the day of the attack, Kulsuma had felt able to leave the refuge and head into the city centre after a fake Facebook post from Masum, who said he was in Spain.

Kulsuma, who was just 5ft 2in (1.6m) and weighed less than five stone, was due to be moved to separate secure accommodation elsewhere just two days after she was killed.

Earlier on Friday, a jury convicted Masum of murder as well as assault, making threats to kill and stalking. He pleaded guilty to possession of a knife in public.

He showed no emotion when the verdicts were read out. He will be sentenced on 22 July.

The MP for Bradford West, Naz Shah, said it was the circumstances around Kulsuma's death that meant the murder "struck a chord" with people across the country.

"Kulsuma came to Bradford trying to find safety and her attacker found her," Shah told the BBC. "It shook up the whole community across Bradford.

"To keep women safe we need to change the culture of misogyny and domestic violence. It's still too prevalent in our society.

"It is literally a cancer that needs eradicating."

The MP said women who befriended Kulsuma at the refuge were "petrified" and "grief-stricken" in the wake of her death.

"Women who have come together in harrowing circumstances often bond over the shared understanding of domestic violence.

"For those women I met, it was horrible for them."

She added: "It takes courage for women to leave domestic abuse situations."

The weekend after Kulsuma's murder, a vigil was held in the centre of Bradford to remember her.

Organisers said they wanted to highlight the issue of violence against women, while remembering that Kulsuma was not just a "statistic".

Speaking after her death, Kulsuma's mother, Monwara Begum, said she "adored" her youngest daughter.

"When she moved to the United Kingdom I was alone, but Kulsuma would call me every day by video.

"The only day I didn't hear from her was the day she was attacked."

For tailor Mr Khan, images of that day are forever etched into his mind.

"I think what got me the most was seeing the baby in the pushchair going into the police van.

"That got me and I'll never forget that."

With additional reporting from Charles Heslett.

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