THE FURIOUS family of teenager Sajjad Mahmood claim police repeatedly ignored pleas to investigate the disappearance of the youngster.

And the distraught father of the dead boy, Arshad Mahmood, said officers showed more interest in investigating the theft of a missing bike than the disappearance of Sajjad.

When the 18-year-old supermarket worker failed to return home, the Mahmood family claims lack of police action forced them to launch their own investigation. And they believe race had a major effect on the decisions taken by the police.

Sajjad, who lived with his five brothers and younger sister in Royds Street, Accrington went missing on the night of Saturday, March 21.

His worried parents contacted the police several days later but no action was taken.

They then went round their home town talking to friends who knew their son and became convinced Sajjad had been killed.

Arshad Mahmood said: "We went to the police every day but they kept telling us to go away. They said he had probably run away from home and there was nothing to worry about. Everyone in the town was talking about how Sajjad had been killed but Accrington police would not listen to us."

Sajjad was last seen at a house in Princess Street which was well known in the area as a haunt for drug dealers.

Sajjad's mother was convinced his body had been dumped in a lodge next to Accrington's Asda store but only a cursory search of the area took place and the body was not discovered for almost two weeks.

Police finally decided to take action when the house was set on fire in an arson attack. A major police investigation was launched and Sajjad's body was eventually discovered in the lodge next to Asda.

The discovery came days after an hysterical Mrs Mahmood told staff at the supermarket the body of her son had been dumped in the lodge.

Staff at the supermarket told the Lancashire Evening Telegraph that they thought Mrs Mahmood's claims were not taken seriously by the police at first.

Police eventually arrested Butler, Barton and Kelly but the lack of early action sparked unrest and trouble across the town and police officers had to appeal to the public for calm.

Mr Mahmood said: "Everyone makes mistakes and I am glad that my family got justice in the end but I felt like the police were not interested.

"Four months before Sajjad went the police came to our house over a stolen bike. They showed more interest in a missing bike than they did when I told them my son had gone missing.

"They told me that lots of Asian boys run away from home and it was nothing to worry about. They said Asian boys are always leaving home because of arranged marriages.

"Their attitudes were the sort of thing that went on in South Africa under apartheid."

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