Thirty-eight-year-old Mohammed Akram lived in Rochdale, Manchester, England, with his wife Sarwari and their five children. By all accounts, he was a gentleman, a loving husband and father, and a hard worker. He drove a taxi for a company called Radio Cars, sometimes putting in fifteen-hour days.
On the afternoon of Sunday, November 10th, 1996, Mohammed went off to work as usual, and his shift was uneventful for the first few hours. Then, at about ten past seven p.m., he responded to a call from someone wishing to be picked up from Victoria Park and driven to Piccadilly railway station. After setting out on the job, he was never heard from again.
The following morning, a man named John Stonier was cycling to work when he spotted Mohammed’s body, lying in a field off Isherwood Road in Carrington. The victim had been shot through the back of the head with a shotgun.
Although robbery was initially believed to be the motive, the mystery deepened when Mohammed’s car—a light blue Toyota Corolla—was discovered abandoned about a mile and a half from where his body was found. The vehicle’s keys were still in the ignition, the radio was on, and all of the day’s takings were untouched.
A thorough investigation ensued, but no one could come up with any possible reason why anyone would want to kill the unassuming, conscientious Mohammed. According to statements from family members and an extensive check into his background, he was not involved in any criminal activity, he wasn’t having an affair, and he didn’t owe anyone any money. The investigation was frustrated at every turn by the apparent randomness of the shooting.
Police did recover CCTV footage of the area, but the weather had been far too foggy at the time of the murder to make out anything useful on the video.
The execution-style murder of Mohammed Akram remains unsolved, nearly thirty years later.
Crime Immemorial 