A convicted sex offender has been given a life sentence with a minimum term of 38 years for murdering two vulnerable women and concealing their bodies in a freezer at his east London flat. Zahid Younis, 36, was described as a “manipulative predator” who subjected both victims to “very significant violence” before killing them.
The bodies of Henriett Szucs, 34, and Mihrican Mustafa, 38, were discovered by police in a padlocked chest freezer at Younis’s home in Canning Town on 27 April last year. Szucs had vanished in August 2016 after moving in with Younis, while Mustafa, known as Jan, went missing in May 2018. The court heard that Younis bought the freezer shortly after killing Szucs “for the sole purpose” of hiding her body.
Younis admitted placing the women in the freezer and pleaded guilty to two counts of preventing the lawful and decent burial of a body. He denied two counts of murder but was found guilty by a jury at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday. He showed no emotion as the verdicts were read out and later refused to leave his cell to be sentenced.
During the trial, prosecutor Duncan Penny QC said both women were vulnerable, living “somewhat chaotic lives” and had been homeless for a time, making them easy prey for a controlling and manipulative man. The victims had suffered injuries consistent with kicking or stamping, including multiple rib fractures. Szucs sustained severe head injuries, while Mustafa’s sternum and larynx were fractured.
In a statement read on behalf of Szucs’s mother, Maria, who could not attend court due to the pandemic, she said the fact that her daughter lay in a freezer for two and a half years without anyone looking for her torments her daily. Mustafa’s family described her as a “fantastic mother” to three children, adding that her death had “changed our family forever”. Detective Chief Inspector Simon Harding, the senior investigating officer, called Younis a “repugnant and dangerous individual” who showed no remorse.
