What Happened to Ansreen Bukhari?

Ansreen Bukhari, a mother who appeared in her daughter Mahek Bukhari's popular TikTok videos, became embroiled in a tragic criminal case that culminated in a double murder conviction. The events leading to her conviction began in early 2019 when Ansreen Bukhari started a secret affair with Saqib Hussain, an 18-year-old from Banbury, Oxfordshire. After approximately three years, Ansreen decided to end the relationship. However, Hussain reacted poorly, threatening to expose intimate photographs and videos of their relationship to Ansreen's husband and son if she did not pay him £3,000, which he claimed to have spent on her.

The situation escalated dramatically in the early hours of February 11, 2022. Ansreen, along with her daughter Mahek and several others, arranged to meet Hussain in a Tesco car park in Leicester under the pretense of returning the money. However, the meeting was an ambush, and when Hussain and his friend Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin, who had given him a lift, became suspicious, they fled. What followed was a high-speed car chase on the A46 in Leicestershire, during which the vehicles driven by the Bukhari group deliberately rammed Hussain and Ijazuddin's Skoda off the road. The Skoda crashed into a tree and burst into flames, killing both men instantly.

Ansreen and Mahek Bukhari, along with other defendants, were arrested shortly after the incident. The initial trial in October 2022 collapsed due to a jury irregularity, but a retrial commenced in April 2023. On August 4, 2023, Ansreen Bukhari and Mahek Bukhari were found guilty of two counts of murder by a jury at Leicester Crown Court. Four other defendants were also convicted, two for murder and three for manslaughter.

On September 1, 2023, Ansreen Bukhari was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 26 years and nine months. Her daughter, Mahek, received a longer minimum term of 31 years and eight months. During the sentencing, the court heard how Ansreen's "head was turned" by the "perceived glamour" of the influencer world, which was a significant departure from her previous life as a mother and housewife.

In October 2025, Mahek Bukhari successfully appealed her sentence, which was reduced to a minimum term of 26 years and 285 days, with the Court of Appeal citing her youth and immaturity as factors not sufficiently considered in the original sentencing. However, Ansreen Bukhari did not pursue her appeal at that time. Most recently, on July 3, 2026, Ansreen Bukhari's own bid to appeal her sentence was refused by three judges at the Court of Appeal. Her lawyers had argued that her sentence was "manifestly excessive," but the court maintained that she had many opportunities to prevent the escalation of events leading to the deaths. Ansreen Bukhari remains incarcerated, serving her life sentence.