The ex-partner of a man, whose wife died after suffering horrific burns which were said to have been caused by setting fire to herself, says he was violent towards her during their relationship.

Nosheen Akhtar, also known as Sarah Hussain, died after she was seen running from her home on East Street, Bury, on July 23, 2021, while she was on fire.

The 31-year-old died at Wythenshawe Hospital a day later after sustaining burns to 81 per cent of her body.

There have been several inquest hearings since her death and last year the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) apologised to the family after it was found the CPS had failed to conduct a full review of the evidence heard throughout proceedings.

Joanne Cunliffe, deputy chief crown prosecutor of CPS North West, apologised to Sarah's husband Waqas Mahmood and her mother at the time after it was found that some evidence passed onto the CPS by the coroner had not been transcribed and reviewed.

The inquest resumed at Rochdale Coroners' Court on Monday and heard that it is thought Sarah set herself on fire after she was angry with her husband for messaging his ex-wife.

The ex-wife of Waqas said that they got married in 2010 and divorced 10 years later in April 2020.

They had three children, and the marriage came to an end after he started drinking heavily and would push and shove her after drinking, the court was told.

On July 23, 2021, she said he arrived at her house to pick up his children and at 6pm she received a call from him where he seemed worried and said his wife Sarah had burnt herself.

She said that her children had witnessed the incident and that was the only knowledge she had of the incident, the court was told.

The court also heard a statement from Sarah’s father-in-law Tariq Mahmood who was in Pakistan at the time of the incident.

He said that on the day of the incident his wife received a call from Waqas and nothing was mentioned to suggest anything was wrong in their relationship.

At the same time, Waqas was on the phone to his mum, Sarah phoned her sister who was at the same house as Tariq in Pakistan and she mentioned problems that the two of them had in their relationship.

After the phone call, Sarah’s sister told the rest of the family.

Fifteen minutes later, Tariq received another call this time from Sarah and she said how she was sick of her life and there were fights and problems back home.

She also said she was sick of her husband’s ex-wife.

Sarah HussainSarah Hussain (Image: Family handout)

Later that day, Tariq said he found out that Sarah had set fire to herself.

Tariq said: “I was trying to ring people back in Bury. I was terrified and felt helpless.

“After hearing the news that Sarah had died, I was so upset.

"We loved Sarah as a daughter, words cannot express our pain.”