A BRIERFIELD teenager was murdered by her former boyfriend who 'could not tolerate her rejection of him', a court heard.

Gulamyr Akhter, 19, is accused of repeatedly stabbing Asha Muneer in an 'exceptionally vicious attack' as the 18-year-old walked home from work.

The pair had once been in a relationship but this ended in the summer before Miss Muneer died and she had started seeing someone else, the jury heard.

Miss Muneer's body was found next to a river by a jogger on the evening of January 18 this year.

The 18-year-old used to live in Halifax Road and went to Walter Street Primary and Mansfield High, before the family moved to Reading several years ago.

She was attacked while walking back from Brunel Retail Park in the Berkshire town when she was attacked by the River Kennet.

CCTV footage shown to the jury showed her initially travelling alone after clocking off at work at Laura Ashley at around 6pm.

She headed in the direction of her home, where she lived with her parents.

But video footage shows that during the journey she is joined by a man in dark clothes and a hooded top, carrying a rucksack.

At one point she appears to stop on the pavement and turn around to walk in the other direction.

But the man steps in front of her and blocks her path, the prosecution alleges.

After a short while, she relented and carried on walking in the initial direction, trailed closely by the man.

The last sighting of Miss Muneer on CCTV footage is shortly before 6.30pm. She is seen walking towards the underpass where her body was found nearly two hours later. The man with the rucksack is still with her.

He is later captured on video walking in the other direction on his own.

At one point he stops and appears to wipe his hands in snow piled up by the side of the road, the jury at Reading Crown Court was told.

When Miss Muneer's body was found later that evening, she was face down near the entrance of a dark, flooded underpass.

Jogger Tegwyn Jones, who made the grim discovery, initially believed the body to be a bag of rubbish.

But he stopped to examine it after passing it again on his return leg.

"As he did so, he could see a pair of legs, he noticed them splayed out and heading towards the brook. He was then able to make out a hand and a head," chief prosecutor John Price QC said.

Mr Jones walked to a nearby road and flagged down a motorist for assistance.

The pair returned to the underpass and contacted emergency services.

They attempted to move the victim on to her side, but as they did so she rolled on to her back exposing the extent of her wounds.

"She had been the victim of an exceptionally vicious attack by someone with a knife," the court was told.

Miss Muneer, a 5ft 5in woman who weighed little more than six stone, received stab wounds to her head, face and neck.

The murder weapon, believed to be a kitchen knife, was later found discarded nearby.

Jurors heard that DNA recovered from the knife matched that of the murder victim.

Its blade had been bent and handle broken, possibly by the force of impact.

"Whoever was responsible for attacking this young woman must have intended to kill her, to end her life," Mr Price said, adding: "This was a deliberate murder."

Miss Muneer's handbag and its contents were scattered near to where her body was found, but nothing was believed to be taken.

Mr Price said: "What had happened to this young woman had been motivated by something personal and the killer had searched for something that might be expected to be carried in a handbag, hence it being emptied at the scene and not taken away."

Jurors heard that Akhter, of Victoria Way, Reading, had been in a relationship with Miss Muneer, but the student from Highdown School in Reading ended it in summer last year.

She had also started seeing someone new, the court heard.

Mr Price said: "Gulamyr Akhter murdered Asha Muneer because he could not tolerate her rejection of him."

Akhter denies one count of murder.

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