Burnley man (51) charged with the murders of mother and daughter

Following consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service, Shabaz Khan (51), of Ribble Avenue, Burnley, has been charged with two offences of murder and a further offence of arson being reckless as to whether life is endangered. He is due to appear at Blackburn Magistrates' Court today (Friday).

A 44-year-old woman from Burnley arrested yesterday on suspicion of perverting the course of justice and aiding and abetting murder remains in custody.

The bodies of Dr Saman Mir Sacharvi (49) and a girl, believed to be her 14-year-old daughter, Vian Mangrio, were sadly found at an address on Colne Road, Reedley, on October 1st after officers were called at around 8-45am to a report of concern for safety. There was also evidence of smoke and fire damage inside the address.

A Home Office post-mortem investigation has since revealed Dr Sacharvi died as a result of pressure to the neck and that she had also suffered an assault.

The second body has yet to be formally identified but is believed to be Miss Mangrio. The post-mortem investigation remains ongoing for her and no cause of death established, though we can confirm she was found badly burnt inside the address.

Det Supt Jon Holmes, Head of Major Crime at Lancashire Police, said: “Our thoughts remain with Saman and Vian’s family and we have officers supporting them at this awful time.

“We are continuing to ask anybody with information about this incident to get in touch with us. If you were in the area and saw something suspicious, have dashcam or CCTV from the area or have any other information, we would ask you to contact us straight away.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact police as soon as possible through the dedicated Major Incident Portal at https://mipp.police.uk/operation/0401020119P01-PO1 or on 101, quoting log 0429 of October 3rd. Alternatively independent charity Crimestoppers can be reached anonymously on 0800 555 111 or at crimestoppers-uk.org.