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Saima Ahmed: Mystery Disappearance & Death (Edinburgh; 2015 / 2016)

GNC

GNC

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I'm not sure if this is a crime, because it's being treated as unexplained, but the family want publicity in case anyone can remember anything about her. Saima Ahmed was found dead on an Edinburgh golf course in 2015, nobody seems to know how or why she died, or what she was doing in Edinburgh - she was a Londoner. There doesn't appear to be any reason why she would travel so far north, and as far as I can tell cause of death is unknown (or undisclosed?).

Here's the official statement from Police Scotland and her brother:
Article

Which of course doesn't mention the Scottish Police have been heavily criticised about their handling of the case. I hope she can rest in peace one day, anyway.
 
GNC said:
I'm not sure if this is a crime, because it's being treated as unexplained, but the family want publicity in case anyone can remember anything about her. Saima Ahmed was found dead on an Edinburgh golf course in 2015, nobody seems to know how or why she died, or what she was doing in Edinburgh - she was a Londoner. There doesn't appear to be any reason why she would travel so far north, and as far as I can tell cause of death is unknown (or undisclosed?).

Here's the official statement from Police Scotland and her brother:
Article

Which of course doesn't mention the Scottish Police have been heavily criticised about their handling of the case. I hope she can rest in peace one day, anyway.
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Strange.

I am unfamiliar with this case, but the one thing that immediately springs to mind, as a similarity, is the man who travelled by train from London to Manchester and was found dead on the moors.

This chap: https://www.itv.com/news/london/201...ors-is-solved-a-year-after-his-body-was-found

The "mystery solved" mentioned in the headline, is actually just his identity. I'm not sure that why he did what he did has been solved yet.
 
Schrodinger's Zebra said:
Strange.

I am unfamiliar with this case, but the one thing that immediately springs to mind, as a similarity, is the man who travelled by train from London to Manchester and was found dead on the moors.

This chap: https://www.itv.com/news/london/201...ors-is-solved-a-year-after-his-body-was-found

The "mystery solved" mentioned in the headline, is actually just his identity. I'm not sure that why he did what he did has been solved yet.
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Do you know, I was trying to think why the Saima case seemed familiar and I think that's it! Thanks! I doubt they're connected otherwise, but it's a curious coincidence.
 
Piece on it in FT402 (when you get it!). interesting that a number of police officers were disciplined for their original investigation. Reading between the lines it could be that they originally thought this may have been some sort of 'honour killing' and didnt follow any other lines of inquiry. The piece in FT shows a cctv image of her at Wembley station. I assume they dont have one of her getting off in Edinburgh.
 
GNC said:
I'm not sure if this is a crime, because it's being treated as unexplained, but the family want publicity in case anyone can remember anything about her. Saima Ahmed was found dead on an Edinburgh golf course in 2015, nobody seems to know how or why she died, or what she was doing in Edinburgh - she was a Londoner. There doesn't appear to be any reason why she would travel so far north, and as far as I can tell cause of death is unknown (or undisclosed?).

Here's the official statement from Police Scotland and her brother:
Article

Which of course doesn't mention the Scottish Police have been heavily criticised about their handling of the case. I hope she can rest in peace one day, anyway.
Click to expand...
There is a section in this months FT 402 Strange Days about the case. Page 9 Edinburgh Death Mystery.
 
I remember this - and the stushie about the way Police Scotland handled it :(
 
eziofan said:
Piece on it in FT402 (when you get it!). interesting that a number of police officers were disciplined for their original investigation. Reading between the lines it could be that they originally thought this may have been some sort of 'honour killing' and didnt follow any other lines of inquiry. The piece in FT shows a cctv image of her at Wembley station. I assume they dont have one of her getting off in Edinburgh.
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Snap
 
GNC said:
There doesn't appear to be any reason why she would travel so far north
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So little to go on. She was 36 and no mention of a husband - unusual, for the community I assume she belonged to.

Could she have risked a long journey in a bid to escape "spinsterhood," which can still be a joyless burden, where outside work is not encouraged? Mere speculation. I have occasionally witnessed furtive goings-on in parked cars, which suggest there is an underground culture of dangerous liaisons, where arranged marriages are the norm. :(

Unlimited phone contracts are also typical of the community. I'm sure the avenue will have been explored but could she have conducted a romance over a period of time and trusted someone she shouldn't?
 
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eziofan said:
It was the Met Police officers that were disciplined.
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I didn't know they were - it's the public reaction to Police Scotland that I remember. Unfortunately :(

Gogar isn't without interest but it's not the sort of place you end up at on your trip from London unless there is something bvery specific there.
 
Just discussing this with Mr Zebra, he's suggested that perhaps she'd arranged to meet someone? Like an online date? It's a long way to go, but possible perhaps? Also presumably she didn't use credit/debit card during her stay or they would have that to 'track' her to some degree.

Also curious if there are no CCTV images of her at Edinburgh, there are plenty of cameras there.

Reading the article again, she went missing at the end of August but her body was found in January - presumably it being a golf course her body couldn't have been there for long without being discovered? Was there any indication of how long she'd been dead for? (I'm wondering whether she was alive for a few weeks/months after arriving in Edinburgh, etc).


The article states:
Saima Ahmed was 36 when she left her home in north London and is believed to have travelled to Edinburgh by train via Hemel Hempstead and Birmingham on 30 August, 2015.
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Do they know this from tickets/CCTV down there? It's a strange route because there are trains direct from London to Edinburgh. Was she meeting up with someone in one of those places who travelled up with her?
 
The thing is, as far as I can see there's no record of her being seen with anyone at all. Not walking along the beach, nor getting the train. It's a macabre thought she was killed by someone she'd gone so far to meet, but there would presumably be phone/internet records that would indicate this, and there is no mention of it.

The only motive I can see is she may have gone for the end of the Edinburgh Festival, which is a massively popular event. But if she did, she kept it a secret for unknown reasons.
 
Do we know for certain that she arrived in Edinburgh the day she left London?

Could she have travelled to Birmingham and been there for a while (perhaps meeting up with a friend or friends), then going up to Edinburgh later?
 
I find the lack of information from mobile phone records and laptops, etc a little strange. As she was a part time librarian there is also available IT at the library. If she was meeting anybody how did they communicate? There are cyber cafes of course but then if she was a regular user she surely would be recognised.
 
eziofan said:
If she was meeting anybody how did they communicate?
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Keeping a separate pay-as-you-go phone could keep a relationship off-the-radar. Her profession might well have allowed her information about the best way to stay that way. :thought:

Her invisibility, for months! is problematic, though transition from one partly-or-mainly indoors-situation to another may have seemed normal to her. :(
 
GNC said:
The thing is, as far as I can see there's no record of her being seen with anyone at all. Not walking along the beach, nor getting the train. It's a macabre thought she was killed by someone she'd gone so far to meet, but there would presumably be phone/internet records that would indicate this, and there is no mention of it.

The only motive I can see is she may have gone for the end of the Edinburgh Festival, which is a massively popular event. But if she did, she kept it a secret for unknown reasons.
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She could have worn a disguise? Changed her clothes on the train, put on a wig... anyone looking at the camera film would be looking for a woman who looked the same as she did when she got on the train. Change long hair for a short blonde wig, trousers for a skirt etc... on the slightly dodgy quality of security camera footage it would appear to be a different person.
 
Her death might not be related to the rest of it.

She decides to change her life, puts things in place for a new one and drops out of sight.

Then she is targeted by someone for unconnected reasons :(
 
catseye said:
She could have worn a disguise? Changed her clothes on the train, put on a wig... anyone looking at the camera film would be looking for a woman who looked the same as she did when she got on the train. Change long hair for a short blonde wig, trousers for a skirt etc... on the slightly dodgy quality of security camera footage it would appear to be a different person.
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Judging by the official report, she was found in the clothes she was photographed in at the railway station.

I note it also says "There is no evidence of criminality". So maybe this is in the wrong bit of the forum!
 
GNC said:
Judging by the official report, she was found in the clothes she was photographed in at the railway station.

I note it also says "There is no evidence of criminality". So maybe this is in the wrong bit of the forum!
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I still think she could have changed her clothes whilst travelling if she wanted to avoid being seen on camera. She spent at least one night away, so she must have taken other clothes with her.

If there's no evidence of a crime, then the mystery is why she went all the way to a golf course outside Edinburgh... Or did she travel to the city to meet someone who never turned up?
 
catseye said:
I still think she could have changed her clothes whilst travelling if she wanted to avoid being seen on camera. She spent at least one night away, so she must have taken other clothes with her.

If there's no evidence of a crime, then the mystery is why she went all the way to a golf course outside Edinburgh... Or did she travel to the city to meet someone who never turned up?
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It's conceivable she got lost, being in an unfamiliar area. But then, why would she die?
 
GNC said:
It's conceivable she got lost, being in an unfamiliar area. But then, why would she die?
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I was about to say exposure, cos it was early January her body was found, but then again if it were that, presumably the police / post mortem would know that. And we still don't know how long her body was there, when she actually did.

It is quite a mystery, even the police saying "no evidence of criminality"!
 
GNC said:
Yes, it was the FT piece that inspired me to start the thread. I doubt it was an honour killing if her brother is so keen to solve her death, though.
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I wouldnt take that as an absolution of guilt, in previous cases of honour killings the family have gone on camera at police briefing to plead for evidence in the case of the girls (because its always a girl in honour killing cases) disappearence, and it has later been proved that the family were either guilty or complicit in the murder, it may be a case of the brother not being aware that another family member(s) was/were involved or complicit in the death.
 
Schrodinger's Zebra said:
Just discussing this with Mr Zebra, he's suggested that perhaps she'd arranged to meet someone? Like an online date? It's a long way to go, but possible perhaps? Also presumably she didn't use credit/debit card during her stay or they would have that to 'track' her to some degree.

Also curious if there are no CCTV images of her at Edinburgh, there are plenty of cameras there.

Reading the article again, she went missing at the end of August but her body was found in January - presumably it being a golf course her body couldn't have been there for long without being discovered? Was there any indication of how long she'd been dead for? (I'm wondering whether she was alive for a few weeks/months after arriving in Edinburgh, etc).


The article states:


Do they know this from tickets/CCTV down there? It's a strange route because there are trains direct from London to Edinburgh. Was she meeting up with someone in one of those places who travelled up with her?
Click to expand...
In my humble opinion IF t wasnt an honour killing the time line goes as such
1, she leave London and travels to Birmungham via hemel, she meets up with an 'aquaintance' the continues on to Edinburgh (whoever is studying the cctv is looking for a single girl therefore discounting couples) with the 'aquaintance' to attend the festival, something happens (?) and she dies/is killed by the 'aquaintance' , he hides her body in dense rough on a nearby golf course (i know areas of golf courses where nobody ever ventures, ie not anywhere you would accidentily hit a ball just landscaping).
Her body is discovered months later (probably by a dog walker rather than a golfer). Cause of death is unknown due to body decomp (strangulation is hard to prove on a decomposed corse unless the hyoid (bone in the throat) is broken, which isnt always the case in strangulation cases.
 
The case is difficult and cultural assumptions are very hard to avoid, without more background detail about the victim.

Would she have been drawn to the Edinburgh Festival, for recreational reasons, without informing her family?

Accommodation in Edinburgh, during the Festival, is notoriously expensive and/or hard-to-obtain at the last minute.

Had she/they arrived there, without much planning, during that season, might she/they not have found some place further out, near to the golf course, where she was found?

As with many classic Unsolved Mysteries, we feel it is not necessarily a jigsaw we could make from the existing information.
 
JamesWhitehead said:
The case is difficult and cultural assumptions are very hard to avoid, without more background detail about the victim.

Would she have been drawn to the Edinburgh Festival, for recreational reasons, without informing her family?

Accommodation in Edinburgh, during the Festival, is notoriously expensive and/or hard-to-obtain at the last minute.

Had she/they arrived there, without much planning, during that season, might she/they not have found some place further out, near to the golf course, where she was found?

As with many classic Unsolved Mysteries, we feel it is not necessarily a jigsaw we could make from the existing information.
Click to expand...
Its a bit like trying to put together a 1000 piece jigsaw with no picture and only 100 puzzle pieces
 
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