A young mother-of-two formerly from Keighley was strangled to death after being stabbed at her home, an inquest has been told.

The body of 24-year-old Fozia Ahmed, the mother of a toddler daughter and a seriously-ill baby boy, was found last month at her semi-detached home in Manor Drive, Cottingley.

An inquest into her death was opened and adjourned in Bradford last Thursday to allow her body to be released for burial, which took place later in the day at Keighley cemetery.

Mrs Ahmed’s husband, Khurram Bhatti, 31, has appeared in court charged with murdering her on February 29 at the home they shared.

The killing has been investigated by detectives in the Homicide and Major Enquiry Team at West Yorkshire Police.

Following his sister’s death, Mrs Ahmed’s brother Ilyas Hussain said that she had given up her job as a special needs carer to look after her 15-month-old son.

He was being treated in hospital after being born prematurely with heart and kidney problems.

Relatives and well-wishers from across the country and as far afield as Sweden descended on the family home in Mornington Street, Keighley, in the days following Mrs Ahmed’s death.

She had attended school in Austria after her father took her to live there aged 11.

However, she had returned to Keighley, where she had lived for eight years, to join her two sisters and brother before moving to her new home in Cottingley about a year ago.

At the time of her death, her grieving brother Mr Hussain, 24, said: “She was a lovely person, very bubbly and cheerful. She was a devoted mother who would do anything for her kids. She meant the world to us.”

Before the birth of her children, Mrs Ahmed worked at Staveley Birk Leas care home in Nab Wood, Shipley, where she cared for disabled adults. She was studying for an NVQ but gave up the job she loved to look after her two children.

Mr Hussain said one of the last times he had seen his sister was on February 11, at a party for her son’s birthday.

“She was holding him up so they could cut the cake together,” he said.

“Life will never be the same without her. She will be sadly missed but she will never be forgotten. She will always be in our hearts.”