The parents of a Muslim teenager thought to have been the victim of an "honour" killing were arrested today on suspicion of her murder, almost seven years after she went missing.
The remains of Shafilea Ahmed, 17, from Warrington, Cheshire, were discovered by the river Kent near Sedgwick, Cumbria, in February 2004, five months after she disappeared from her home in Great Sankey.
After her disappearance, it emerged that the teenager had refused an arranged marriage, and that during a visit to Pakistan to meet a prospective husband she had swallowed bleach, causing injuries that required regular hospital treatment. Her father, Iftikhar Ahmed, 50, later claimed she had drunk the liquid during a power cut, mistaking it for fruit juice.
She had intended to go to university and wanted to become a lawyer.
This morning, Cheshire police arrested Shafilea's father, a taxi driver, and her mother, Farzana Ahmed, 47, at their home. The couple are being questioned at a police station in Runcorn.
They had previously been arrested and bailed by police on suspicion of kidnapping in December 2004 but were never charged after the Crown Prosecution Service said that there was insufficient evidence.
The couple had strenuously protested their innocence and claimed police had been racist, a claim denied by investigators.
Six other members of Shafilea's extended family were also arrested in connection with her disappearance but freed on police bail.
Her parents' arrests come in the wake of an armed robbery at their home last month when Shafilea's mother and two of her siblings were tied up by three masked men. Shafilea's sister Alisha Ahmed, 22, was later arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to rob.
A Cheshire police spokeswoman said: "A 50-year-old man and a 47-year-old woman from Warrington were arrested … on suspicion of the murder of Shafilea Ahmed in 2003."
No one has ever been charged over Shafilea's death. In January 2008, the Cumbria coroner, Ian Smith, recorded a verdict of unlawful killing, saying she had been the victim of "a very vile murder". Her family failed to overturn his ruling in the high court.
During the inquest, it emerged that Shafilea had confided in her teachers that she feared she was being forced into an arranged marriage.
The inquest was told that she had once arrived at school with a bruised neck and a cut lip. Her parents denied any mistreatment of their daughter and said that they were not involved in her disappearance, in September 2003.
Poignant song lyrics written by the teenager were found in her bedroom after her disappearance.
In one song, Happy Families, she referred to a clash of cultures. "I don't pretend like we're the perfect family no more," she wrote. "Desire to live is burning. My stomach is turning."
In a second song, entitled I Feel Trapped, she wrote: "But came this day when everything changed, I came home it seemed like a normal day. But sumthing wasn't right. I feel trapped so trapped. I'm trapped."
Referring to arranged marriages, her father told the inquest: "When you look at the children who are born here, whether they want to follow into our footsteps or not is a different thing. I always ask to my kids, 'Whatever you decide to do with your lives I'm fully behind you.'"
Shafilea had gone missing on two earlier occasions and her disappearance had been reported to police both times.
The search was launched after staff at her school overheard her siblings discussing her.