A YouTuber and Burnley Killer, Habibur Rahman Masum, has been convicted of murdering his wife by stabbing her a minimum of 25 times in the presence of their infant in a pram while on the streets of Bradford.
Habibur Rahman Masum, 26, from Burnley, Lancashire, has been found guilty at Bradford Crown Court today (27 June 2025) of murder, one count of assault, one count of uttering threats to kill, and one act of stalking.
Habibur Rahman Masum had previously entered a guilty plea on 5 June 2025 in the same court for manslaughter and possession of a bladed weapon.
The prosecution rejected the guilty plea to manslaughter and proceeded to trial on the murder and other charges.
The investigation by West Yorkshire Police and the subsequent efforts by the CPS established that on 6 April 2024, Kulsuma Akter was shopping in the city when Habibur Rahman Masum located her.
Kulsuma was residing in a safe home after experiencing repeated attacks.
He had before transmitted abusive texts that included threats to kill, along with photographs and videos of the vicinity and premises where she resided.
She was accompanied by her infant in a pram and a friend when she encountered her estranged husband, Habibur Rahman Masum.
After she declined his efforts to reconcile their marriage, he subsequently stabbed her over 25 times, resulting in her death later that day.
Throughout the trial, jurors viewed disturbing CCTV footage of the assault, depicting Habibur Rahman Masum lunging at his wife while wielding a knife.
The video depicted the baby’s pram moving away, accompanied by loud screaming.
The jury was presented with evidence from Kulsuma herself, in a statement provided to the police subsequent to the assault in November 2023.
Kulsuma stated, “I have been in a relationship with my husband, Habibur Rahman Masum, for one and a half years.”
Typically, my relationship with my husband is positive; nevertheless, he has recently exhibited dominating behaviour towards me.
In recent days, he has confiscated my phone, preventing me from communicating with anyone. I am uncertain as to why he behaves this way; he provides no justification.
On November 23, 2023, I received a text message from a colleague with whom I collaborated at Park Cakes Factory.
My male colleague enquired whether I was still working; I informed him that I was not, since I had recently given birth and was on leave.
My husband saw the message on my phone when he got home from work at around 8pm and said, ‘Who is this?’ I stated it was someone I worked with.
My husband took the phone from me and threw it at the wall in the bedroom. It was that powerful that it caused damage to the wall.
“He then grabbed my face and my nose and used his other hand to slap me across my face. He pulled at my hair, which left me with a headache which was very painful. This left a bruise to my left cheekbone.
When he was hitting me, he was asking what type of relationship I had with my colleague.
He then said, ‘I am going to murder you and the police will be taking me.’ I think my husband has mental health problems and that was why he said this. This incident lasted around eight minutes.”
Kulsuma told officers in the statement that Habibur Rahman Masum then called her brother, who instructed him to apologise to her but he did not speak to her until he returned home from work the following day.
She said that at around 7.30pm, she asked him to speak with her as she “knew the argument wouldn’t get resolved.” She said: “I was sitting on the sofa in the bedroom with my baby on my lap.
He entered the bedroom with a kitchen knife in his hand…As he was walking into the room, he said, ‘Tell me what your relationship is with him or I will kill you’ and he walked to the sofa and stood in front of me and put his hand on the sofa and put the knife to my throat and I said, ‘What are you doing? I have the child.’
“He replied saying, ‘Put the child down.’ He wanted me to put the child on the floor but I didn’t. I believe if I put the child on the floor, he would have sliced my throat. The knife was on my throat for around three to five seconds. He slapped me to the cheek and I started to cry.”
Kulsuma said Habibur Rahman Masum then sat on the bed, but still had the knife in his hand. She said he asked her questions such as: “Who is that boy?” and “Have you spoke to him before?”
She said: “He was very angry so I told him to put the knife in the kitchen as I was scared he would use it again. He wouldn’t put it down and was asking why I had given that man my number. He slowly calmed down and was very quiet and gave me my phone back which is when I text my sister-in-law telling her what had happened.”
The court heard Kulsuma said Habibur Rahman Masum then left the room but would later not tell her where the knife was. She said it had not been returned to the kitchen. The incident was reported to police by Kulsuma’s sister-in-law and officers arrived an hour later.
Kulsuma was moved to the refuge in Bradford, where she was staying when she was attacked on April 6 last year. In the days before her death, she had received threatening messages from Masum, including an image of Bradford Train Station.
He also threatened to kill her and her siblings.
The final threat was that they had “4 days left” before Kulsuma reported him and arrangements for her to move refuge were made. She was due to be moved two days after her murder.
As well as murder, Habibur Rahman Masum was found guilty of stalking involving fear of violence, one count of assault by beating and one count of making threats to kill. He was found not guilty of one count of assault by beating.
Habibur Rahman Masum will be sentenced on July 22. The Honourable Mr Justice Cotter told him: “There is only one sentence I can pass however I have to set a minimum term for what you will serve.”
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