A 31-year-old man whose wife was found dead at the home they shared in Cottingley, has admitted killing her.

Khurram Bhatti, of Manor Drive, Cottingley, appeared before Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC at Bradford Crown Court yesterday where he pleaded not guilty to the murder of Fozia Ahmed, but said he was guilty of manslaughter.

Prosecutor Michelle Colborne QC told the court any alternative plea was not acceptable to the Crown Prosecution Service and that there would be a trial in respect of the murder charge.

The defendant appeared in the dock wearing a dark blue tracksuit top, entering his pleas before sitting with his hands in his lap as his barrister Ali Bajwa QC discussed administrative issues with the judge and the prosecutor during the 30-minute-long case management hearing.

Bhatti was remanded in custody and will face trial on July 16.

The body of 24-year-old Mrs Ahmed was found at the semi-detached house in Manor Drive at 11.15am on Wednesday, February 29 this year.

Speaking exclusively to the Telegraph & Argus after her death, Mrs Ahmed's brother, Ilyas Hussain, of Keighley, said she had given up her job as a special needs carer to look after her 15-month-old son, who was being treated in hospital after being born prematurely with heart and kidney problems.

The T&A was told Pakistan-born Mrs Ahmed, who also had a young daughter, was educated in Austria before settling with her family in Keighley in 2002, later moving to Cottingley, where she had lived for about a year.

She had worked as a shop assistant in Greggs sandwich shop and Marks & Spencer in Keighley before securing a job at a nursing home in Nab Wood, Shipley, for adults with learning difficulties.

An inquest into her death was opened and adjourned in March to allow her body to be released for burial.