The husband of a woman allegedly murdered by their son-in-law over a troubled arranged marriage with the couple's eldest daughter has told a jury she never talked about killing herself.

Muhammad Tafham, 31, is said to have stabbed to death mother-of-five Rahman Begum, 46, at her home in Rochdale after she helped daughter Aysha Gulraiz, 25, escape the defendant and return to her long-term boyfriend.

Ms Gulraiz continued seeing her partner despite entering into an arranged marriage in Pakistan with Tafham, a cousin on her father's side, who joined her in the UK in September 2016.

But Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court has heard the pair constantly rowed when they tried to live together and that the defendant would only give her a divorce after she had lived with him for three years so he could then stay in this country.

The Crown say Tafham killed Mrs Begum in anger a day after she helped trick him to leave the family home in Clement Royds Street so that her daughter and boyfriend could swiftly collect her belongings before he returned.

The defendant placed the murder weapon, a 12-inch kitchen knife, in her hand to make it appear as a suicide, they also allege.

On Monday, Mrs Begum's husband Gulraiz Sharif told the court that his wife, known as Ruksana, was "happy" and joking about making a chicken curry that he could not eat when he spoke to her on a video phone call from Pakistan the night before she was found lying in a pool of blood in her kitchen on February 7.

Andrew Thomas QC, prosecuting, asked him: "Did Ruksana that night, or ever, tell you she was thinking of killing herself?"

He replied: "No. Why would she kill herself? She didn't have any problems. She was happy, she was very happy."

Mr Sharif told the court the couple were planning a six-week summer holiday in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

Last week when giving evidence, Aysha Gulraiz said her father did not accept the relationship with her boyfriend Malik, and that she only agreed to the arranged marriage with Tafham to keep her father happy.

But she said her mother had never accused her of bringing shame to the family over living elsewhere with her boyfriend while married.

The jury has heard that another of the couple's daughters had also entered an arranged marriage at the same time but it was subsequently discovered she too had a boyfriend in this country.

Cross-examined by Abdul Iqbal QC, Mr Sharif denied he had separated from his wife in the months before her death and that she was planning to move her and some of their children to the Midlands near to her family.

Mr Iqbal said: "You blamed her for the upbringing of your daughters, didn't you?"

Mr Sharif said: "I am not accepting this because she is my wife and we lived together for 25 years. We lived together and never separated."

He said he was unaware his wife had visited her family GP in November 2017 and had complained of a "low mood".

Mr Iqbal continued: "Your evidence is that your wife was perfectly happy in your marriage as of February 2018?"

Mr Sharif replied: "Yes, she was very happy."

The jury has heard that it will be Tafham's case that he found Mrs Begum lying on her kitchen floor with a knife in her chest and later fled without raising the alarm after he panicked as he thought he would get the blame.

By Kim Pilling