Canning Town murders: one victim named

POLICE WHO discovered the bodies of two women in a freezer in a property in Canning Town have, a week after the gruesome find, identified one of the victims.

The bodies were found on Friday, 26th April – and on Friday, 3rd May the detectives who had been conducting a murder hunt were able to confirm that one of the victims was Mihrican Mustafa. Ms Mustafa, 38 and from Canning Town, was also known as “MJ” and was a mother of three children. She had been missing since May last year.

Ms Mustafa’s disappearance had been reported to the police, who had been trying to trace her. The Metropolitan Police have referred the case to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which is a routine move when a missing person is murdered.

Commenting after Ms Mustafa’s body had been identified, Detective Chief Inspector Simon Harding said, “We are now confident that one of the females found is MJ. As you can imagine, this is a devastating time for her family and we would ask for their privacy to be respected. MJ was reported missing in May 2018. As yet we don’t know when she died; a post-mortem examination is ongoing.

“I would appeal for anyone who knew MJ and may have information about what happened to her and in particular her association with the address in Vandome Close where she was found to come forward. Did you see her just before or maybe even after she was reported missing? What was she doing? Who was she with?”

So far police have made two arrests. A 50 year old man arrested on suspicion of murder was later released. A second man, Zarhid Younis, 34, of Vandome Close, E16, has now been charged with two counts of preventing the lawful and decent burial of a dead body and will appear at Kingston Crown Court at the end of this month.

Police are still trying to identify the second murder victim found at the property in Vandome Close. They are also trying to work out what sort of things were going on at the property. So far they have established that various people would stay there from time to time, particularly people with no stable address of their own, and that it was a place where drug users would hang out or stay over.

•Anyone who has any information about what went on at the property in Vandome Close or the murders is asked to contact the incident room on 020-8721 4205. Alternatively you can contact Crimestoppers on 0800-555 111 and give information anonymously.

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