Pakistani-origin model found hanging in UK

London: A 24-year-old Pakistani-origin model in the UK allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself over fears that her parents would force her to marry a second time.

Nadia Menaz was already married in an Islamic ceremony in 2011 but her family did not approve of her husband and it was not recognised under English law.

The mother-of-one was so troubled by her "very strained" relationship with her parents that she suffered depression, cut off her hair during bouts of self-harm, an inquest in UK has been told.

Last December, Menaz also took out a "forced marriage protection order" (FMPO) at the family court in Manchester against her father Sabir Hussain, 60, and her mother Ruksana Kousar, 55, and three of her eight siblings.

According to UK government guidelines, the FMPO legislation protects women if they are being threatened with a forced marriage or are already within a forced marriage.

At the hearing in the town of Oldham in north England this week, Hussain and Kousar denied attempting to force Menaz into marriage and initially claimed they were unaware of the forced marriage protection order.

But under questioning they admitted they were aware of the order ? and then claimed her daughter had been murdered by a "third party".

Coroner Simon Nelson said Hussain had made it clear in a statement to police he had issues over his daughter's relationship with Umar Rasool, whom she had married in 2011.

Speaking through an interpreter, Hussain told the hearing: "Once she got married there was no point in having issues. He used to assault her physically. They used to have a lot of arguments at home.:

"I don't believe my daughter killed herself. All of her life I never realised and never sensed it that she was having any problems that could cause her death this way. I think my daughter has been killed and she has not died in the way described, he said.

Kousar said: "Nadia was already married and she had a daughter as well so there was no point of having this forced marriage protection order."

Coroner Nelson asked Rasool if he was in any way involved in "an altercation" and he denied any involvement.

The inquest into the death, which occurred on May 1 this year, will conclude at a later date this year.