A woman has been locked up for nine months for lying to police about the whereabouts of a man wanted for attempted murder at a takeaway shop.
Shuily Begum, 21, had pleaded not guilty to assisting an offender at a trial at Luton Crown Court in July, but was found guilty by the jury.
The attempted murder took place in the Royal Peri Peri chicken shop in Midland Road, Bedford, on November 23, 2011, when Akhtar Miah, 25, of Queen’s Road, London shot a male customer in the face with a shotgun.
Two other men, 18-year-old Fahim Khan of Fenlake Road and a 17-year-old who cannot be named because of his age, were found guilty of possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear.
Begum had previously been in a relationship with the main offender Akhtar Miah.
When police were searching for him they went to her family’s home in Costin Street, Bedford. She was visiting at the time and initially denied to officers that she knew anyone by that name.
But when detectives told her how serious the matter was, she admitted he was the father of her child but then said she no longer had anything to do with him.
Eventually in December 2011, the Metropolitan Police Service’s armed police caught up with Miah in the early hours of the morning – staying at Begum’s flat in London.
Evidence from her mobile phone showed she had been in constant contact with him at least since November 30.
Detective Constable Sarah Corr of the Beds, Herts and Cambs Major Crime Unit, said: “Knowing how serious the offence was and that the police were looking for Miah, Begum not only lied about having contact with him, she gave him shelter in his efforts to evade justice.”
On Tuesday, the judge at Cambridge Crown Court also sentenced Begum to 12 months in prison for a separate offence of conspiracy to steal in relation to an incident at Claire’s Accessories Shop in Stevenage. The sentences will run consecutively, making a total of 21 months.
