THE jury in the trial of an Accrington kebab shop owner accused of murdering his mother-in-law and cutting up her body was today expected to be sent out to consider its verdict.

After a two week trial, the jury at Preston Crown Court retired to consider the case of 37 year-old Muhammed Arshad, who is accused of dismembering the body of 56-year-old Zainab Begum then storing the parts in the kitchen of the Millennium takeaway.

Arshad, who denies murder, has claimed Mrs Begum, of Burnley Road, Accrington, hit her head and died when he pushed her away after she made sexual advances towards him.

Arsham's brother, Mohammed Sharif Khan, is charged with assisting in the disposal of the body parts.

He also denies the charge.

Mrs Begum's body has never been found.

The court heard earlier how Khan had been in a poor mental and physical state when he confessed the alleged crime to the police.

Benjamin Myers, defending Khan, 39, of Crumpsall, Manchester, told the court that his client was suffering from mental health problems and had tuberculosis when he was interviewed by police. He was also said to be under financial pressure after starting a new takeaway business in Accrington.

Mr Myers said: "He was a very ill man, very wrapped up in his own affairs and was very easy to take advantage of.

"He is also someone who you may find was in a fragile state of mind and capable of telling police things that were not necessarily accurate or true."

Mr Myers said that Khan did not know what his brother had done and was not aware that what was being put into the boot of his car at Burnley Road to take to the takeaway and then to their home in Manchester was Mrs Begum's body.

He told the court that the defendant had been going about his day as normal.

Mr Myers said: "There is no reason to suspect that he knew what had happened when he drove things in his car.

"He wasn't behaving as if he knew what was happening and there is no evidence that he was involved in doing anything with her body."

Town centre CCTV footage of two men of carrying things into the Millennium takeaway on Church Street, Accrington, on the day of the alleged murder and then from the takeaway back into the car the following morning could not be relied on as evidence that Khan knowingly transported the body parts in his car.

Mr Myers said: "The CCTV will not help us to see what happened to Zainad Begum or what it was that was going into that car and it won't help to show that Khan must have known what it was."

(Proceeding)