A BROMSGROVE pizza shop owner has been convicted of murdering his wife and leaving her in an unmarked grave – which went undiscovered by police for more than six months.
Nezam Salangy, 44, was found guilty at Worcester Crown Court on Tuesday, May 3 of killing his spouse of eight years, Zobaidah Salangy, on March 28 2020.
Salangy of Talbot Road had reported his 28-year-old wife Zobaidah missing but a police investigation discovered that he had murdered her and, with the help of his brothers, had buried her body in woodland.
Salangy’s younger brothers; Mohammed Yasin and Mohammed Ramin Salangi – who worked in another pizza shop in Wales, were also convicted alongside their older brother of helping him to cover up the crime.
During the trial, the court heard that Salangy and his wife were in an unhappy marriage.
On March 27 2020, they had an argument, part of which was recorded, and the following day she disappeared.
Salangy told a number of people that she had left him, even showing messages from her phone which he had sent to himself saying that she was going back to Afghanistan.
The reality was that on March 28, at the couple's pizza business in Bromsgrove, Salangy had killed his wife.
He contacted his two brothers who travelled from Cardiff to help him dispose of her body.
Ramin travelled 90 miles by cab from his and Yasin’s home in Adamscroft Place, Caerphilly to help bury the victim.
Six months later police discovered the body, though it was so decomposed that cause of death cannot be established.
Opening the Crown’s case, at the start of the six-week trial, Simon Denison QC said it was an “unfortunate fact” of the case Mrs Salangy’s body was initially missed by police, when a first dig at the site near Lower Bentley took place in April 2020.
Mr Denison said: “They mistook a hard layer of soil that they reached to be a natural base below which no-one would dig.
“So they abandoned the search there and they didn’t find the body at that stage.”
However, police – “convinced she must be there” – returned to the spot in October 2020, and this time “found Zobaidah’s body”.
None of the men showed any reaction as the verdicts were read, but as he left the dock in the care of security guards, Nezam Salangy stared at several West Mercia Police detectives who had conducted the investigation, telling them “you guys framed me”.
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Peters, who led the murder investigation, said: "This was a horrendous crime and I am glad to see that Salangy and his brothers will now pay the price for their actions.
"A young woman died and two children are now growing up without both parents. My thoughts are with them and other family members affected by Zobaidah's death."
Salangy has been remanded and will be sentenced in June.
Mohammed Yasin Salangi, 33, and Ramin Salangi, 31 have also been remanded and will also be sentenced in June.
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