Habibur Rahman Masum denies murder of Kulsuma Akter

Kulsuma Akter, 27, was stabbed to death in an attack in Bradford city centre on April 6.

A court heard Ms Akter’s husband Habibur Masum, 25, is accused of assaulting her on November 23 and November 24 last year before allegedly stalking her and finding her at a safe house where she had been staying in April.

On Thursday, Masum,  of Leamington Avenue, Burnley, appeared at Bradford Crown Court where he denied murder, two charges of assault, one count of making threats to kill, one charge of stalking, and one of possessing a knife.

The court heard the allegations of assault and threats to kill relate to two days last November.

Masum, who spoke via a Bengali interpreter and spoke only to confirm his name and to make his pleas, is accused of stalking Ms Akter between November and April, with the charge alleging he “tracked her movements and located her at a safe house, sent her messages of a menacing nature which contained threats to kill another and photos and videos of the area and premises where she was residing”.

A court artist drawing of Habibur Masum appearing in the dock at Bradford Magistrates' Court on April 11 (Image: Elizabeth Cook/PA Wire)

He is also alleged to have “loitered in the area of her temporary residence”.

The charge alleges he caused her “alarm or distress” and to “fear that violence would be used against her”.

Judge Jonathan Rose remanded Masum, a slight, bearded figure wearing a grey sweatsuit, into custody until his next hearing at the same court on September 27.

A trial date of November 18 was set at an earlier hearing.

Ms Akter, who is understood to have previously lived in Oldham, was taken to hospital after being stabbed several times during the incident in Westgate at the junction with Drewton Road. She later died from her injuries.

The baby is safe and was not harmed in the incident, police said.