THE WANNABE DAD INFLUENCER WHO KILLED HIS BABY'S MOTHER IN COLD BLOOD.

To his 4,000 social media followers, Habibur Masum appeared to be a doting father carving out an online niche by offering parenting tips to new dads. In one video, he showed how to assemble a cot; in another, he shopped for baby clothes on the High Street.

But offline, Masum was a dangerous and controlling domestic abuser, determined to dominate his wife, Kulsuma Akter.

When Kulsuma escaped with their baby son and sought refuge, Masum's grip on her life was broken — but only temporarily. Despite a court order instructing him to stay away, he refused to accept the end of his control.

Masum, a tech-savvy student originally from Bangladesh, managed to track her down. In April 2024, on a street in Bradford city centre, he confronted Kulsuma as she pushed their seven-month-old son in a pram. In a brutal attack, he stabbed her 25 times before slitting her throat.

Masum fled the scene, leaving the baby beside his dying mother on a busy Saturday afternoon — an act of violence so brazen and public it shocked the nation.

Nearby shopkeepers, including Imran Khan, whose tailoring shop is close to the scene, tried to save Kulsuma. Khan and his apprentice later required counselling.

“When it happened, we were all in shock. A week later, it really hit me — I couldn’t stop thinking about it,” Khan recalled.

Another shopkeeper, Geo Khan, who knew Kulsuma as a regular customer, described her as “down to earth, such a nice and lovely lady,” adding, “This shouldn’t have happened to her.”

‘The Smiling Killer’

Less than a mile away, as emergency services responded to the attack, thousands of Bradford City fans were watching a match against Gillingham. News of the incident first reached many when a warning about a police operation and road closures appeared on the stadium's big screen.

Masum, meanwhile, calmly walked away from the scene and boarded a bus. CCTV captured him smiling as he left, a detail highlighted by prosecutor Stephen Wood KC during his murder trial.

“There were no tears, no distress. The smile you see as he gets on that bus — that’s him thinking he’s getting away. The smiling killer,” Wood told Bradford Crown Court.

A nationwide manhunt followed. Three days later, Masum was arrested 170 miles away in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, and brought back to face justice.

It soon emerged this wasn’t Masum’s first encounter with the law. The couple had moved to the UK from Bangladesh in March 2022, with Masum studying at the University of Bedfordshire. By November 2023, living with his uncle in Burnley, he was charged with assaulting and threatening to kill Kulsuma in Manchester — charges he denied. Though released on bail, he was ordered to stay away from certain people and addresses.

During police interviews, Masum falsely claimed Kulsuma had injured herself because she didn’t want to return to Bangladesh once his visa expired. “She knows if you suspect your husband, the law will protect you so you won’t have to go back home,” he told officers.

Throughout numerous preliminary hearings, Masum showed little emotion, listening to proceedings through an interpreter. Even on 5 June this year, when he admitted to manslaughter, he appeared calm.

Observers noted how young and small in stature the now 26-year-old looked in the dock. He later broke down in tears, attempting to convince the jury he wasn’t guilty of murder, claiming “diminished responsibility” and alleging Kulsuma and her family conspired against him so she could stay in the UK.

The court, however, heard a very different story — one of careful calculation. Masum discovered Kulsuma hadn’t turned off her phone's location settings, enabling him to track her. Believing Masum's false Facebook post claiming he was in Spain, Kulsuma felt safe enough to leave the refuge that day.

Tragically, just two days before she was due to be relocated to secure accommodation, she was murdered.

Kulsuma, who stood 5ft 2in tall and weighed under five stone, never got the chance to rebuild her life.

On Friday, the jury convicted Masum of murder, assault, making threats to kill, and stalking. He had previously pleaded guilty to carrying a knife in public. He showed no emotion as the verdicts were read. He will be sentenced on 22 July.

‘A Cancer of Domestic Violence’

Naz Shah, MP for Bradford West, said Kulsuma's murder resonated nationally because of the horrific circumstances.

“Kulsuma came to Bradford seeking safety. Her attacker found her,” Shah told the BBC. “It shook our community and the whole country.

“To keep women safe, we must tackle the culture of misogyny and domestic violence — it’s still far too prevalent. It’s a cancer that needs eradicating.”

Women who befriended Kulsuma at the refuge were left terrified and grief-stricken. Shah acknowledged how survivors of domestic abuse often form close bonds, united by shared trauma. For those women, the murder was devastating.

“It takes incredible courage to leave an abusive relationship,” Shah said.

In the days following the murder, a vigil was held in Bradford city centre to remember Kulsuma and highlight the wider issue of violence against women. Organisers stressed she should not be seen as just another statistic.

Speaking after her daughter’s death, Kulsuma’s mother, Monwara Begum, said she adored her youngest child.

“When she moved to the UK, I was alone, but Kulsuma called me every day on video. The only day I didn’t hear from her was the day she was attacked.”

For tailor Imran Khan, the memory of that day remains vivid. “What hit me the most was seeing the baby in the pushchair being taken away in the police van.”