COLD-BLOODED killer Mohamed Arshad was jailed for life today for the murder of a Newport mother-of-three who was blackmailing him.
Arshad, 38, from Morris Street, Maindee, was sentenced to the minimum term for the murder of former family friend Mussarat Nazir - allowing him to apply for parole in ten years' time.
Ms Nazir, 37, had alleged that Arshad committed an indecent act in front of her when they were teenagers.
She blackmailed him out of £24,000 before Arshad lured her to a remote lane near Duffryn, garrotted her with a piece of rope and set her alight in a car.
The Recorder of Cardiff, Judge John Griffith Williams QC, told Arshad it "was a killing in cold blood".
But the judge said there was "substantial mitigation" adding that: "You became a victim of that evil crime (blackmail) and what could have been a never-ending crime."
He said Arshad was subjected to "stress approaching mental illness".
The judge told the jury Ms Nazir suffered "a tragic death" and said heroin played a large part in destroying her life.
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