Dismembered man identified

THE MURDERED man whose leg and intestines were found in shopping bags in a Yorkshire forest last week was yesterday identified as Nissar Ahmed, a father of six, but police still have no clues about the motives behind his gruesome death.

Family members, who speak little English, identified Mr Ahmed by a burn mark on the discarded leg, which was packed into two carrier bags and thrown into a forest from a remote back lane near Briestfield, a village near Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. The rest of his body has not been found.

Mr Ahmed, 34, who owned a curry house in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, was last seen on Thursday night when he dropped off two friends he had met after closing his restaurant. Police said yesterday that a nationwide hunt was under way, but they remained mystified about the possible motives for the murder and disembowelling. "It is truly horrific. To think a human being could do such a thing to another human being is totally gruesome," said Detective Superintendent Graham Sutherland, who is leading the inquiry.

The leg was found in Aldi and Netto carrier bags on Friday morning by a policewoman walking her dog.

The events in the lead-up to the killing were quite normal. After closing the Sultan, his restaurant, on Thursday night, Mr Ahmed picked up two friends from the takeaway they owned in nearby Skelmanthorpe. He dropped them at their homes in the Manningham area of Bradford, minutes from West Bowling, where he lived, between 12.30 and 1am. Some time after that, he was killed.

He was not reported missing until several hours after the shopping bags were found, because his family thought he had been staying with friends.

Villagers in Briestfield are understandably shocked. "It's a sleepy village and really no one knows we are here," said Beryl Lodge, 53, who manages the local pub. "This has had quite an effect on us all. No one knows if there may be more body parts scattered around."