Cole Kershaw: Trial of sisters accused of helping murderer set to end

In May 2021, three men were jailed for life after being found guilty of the murder of 18-year-old Cole Kershaw who was shot in the chest after he and his friends were pursued by a silver BMW.

Cole died after he was shot on Chesham Road in Bury at around 9.40pm on August 12, 2020.

Cole Kershaw (Image: Greater Manchester Police)

At sentencing, Kamran Mohammed, 20, Mohammed Izaarh Khan, 22, and Khayam Ali Khurshid, 29, all from Bury, were sentenced to life following a five-week trial at Manchester Crown Court.

Mohammed was sentenced to serve a minimum term of 27 years, Khan was handed down 24 years and Khurshid was told to serve 27 years.

Farah Khan, 27, of Maryport Drive, Timperley, and Husna Khan, 28, of Redwing Street, Winsford, have been accused of assisting an offender, their brother, Khurshid, of Eton Hill Road, Radcliffe, with a trial starting at Manchester Crown Court last week.

Mohammed Izaarh Khan, Khayam Ali Khurshid and Kamran Mohammed (Image: Greater Manchester Police)

The evidence in the case has now concluded and the jury are set to be sent out to make their decision.

In her closing speech, prosecuting barrister Marte Alnaes said that both sisters' accounts show a web of lies that have spun out of control.

She said that Farah went from “remembering everything clearly to nothing at all”.

The court heard that after Khurshid was involved in Cole's murder, and less than two hours later, he called Farah, who was with Husna at the time.

"GMP Bury" and "Cole Kershaw" were later found in Husna’s Twitter searches, the court was told.

On August 16, a car was hired at 5pm and the three siblings made their way into France, through Belgium, and arrived at 7.30am in the Netherlands, the court heard.

The prosecution believe that they hired a car to throw police off where they were going.

But both sisters insist that it was a pre-planned holiday, and they did not have any clues that their brother had committed such a crime.

By 8.20am on August 17, they had crossed back into Belgium and a flight was booked from Brussels to Islamabad in Pakistan, intended for Khurshid. However he never boarded this flight, the court heard.

The group then returned to the Netherlands, and a second flight was booked from Amsterdam to Islamabad, But again, he did not board this flight, supposedly due to him not having a Covid test.

Miss Alnaes described the whole trip as “anything but a preplanned, relaxing holiday but rather a frenzied and desperate trip".

Defending Farah, Graham Rishton said both sisters would never have normally set foot in a courtroom under such circumstances.

He said they have had to “overcome difficulties of mental health” and they had a difficult childhood.

The defence argues that a call made to Farah on the night of Cole's murder was not about the incident, but instead was an innocent conversation about a car that Khurshid had borrowed from Farah.

In defence of the hiring of the car, Mr Rishton said that this was not unusual for the pair as they had hired many cars in the months before the crime.

Mr Rishton also said that the reason Farah was trying to get Khurshid to Pakistan was to sort out family affairs after their dad had died and that he had needed to go for some time.

He said: “Khurshid may have had an ulterior motive for going on the trip but these actions don’t relate to both sisters.”

It was also stressed that the hire car, hotels, Eurotunnel and flights were also booked in their own names because they said they have nothing to hide.

Mr Rishton said: “If it was a frenzied dash, why didn’t they go the next day instead of the 16th of August, four days after the shooting?"

The court heard both sisters are of a good character and that their brother getting arrested in Amsterdam must have come as a great shock to them.

Defending Husna, Clare Ashcroft, said similar statements.

She said there is no evidence of what was said on the phone call made by Khurshid on the night of the shooting.

Regarding the searches made by Husna on Twitter, the court heard the phone is used by many members of the family so it cannot be proved that she made those searches.

When both sisters were arrested at the Eurotunnel, the court was told they were frightened and did not realise what their brother had done.

The court also heard that Husna has spent a considerable amount of time caring for her mother, who has mental health difficulties, while studying for a law degree as well as suffering from poor mental health herself.

The jury will be sent out on Tuesday to decide on their verdicts.