Mum who feared husband had cheated set herself on fire
Ghazala Yasin, aged 26, doused herself in white spirit before using the gas cooker to set herself alight while at home with her young son and daughter.
Mrs Yasin started the fire at the family’s seven-bedroom home in Spring Road, Normacot, on March 10, before dying on April 7.
An inquest heard yesterday that Mrs Yasin had been phoning a woman she thought her husband, Basharat Ali, had fathered two other children with.
Mrs Yasin had moved to Stoke-on-Trent from Pakistan aged 16 to marry her first cousin and live with his family.
Her sister Saima Yasin, who was four years younger, had also married into the family and they all lived in the same house.
Mr Ali was working at the family’s takeaway business in Meir when the tragedy happened.
Asked about the affair yesterday, he said: “It was a text message which someone had sent me.
“She had been ringing that number and I still do not know to this day who it was she was talking to but she said she had two children by me.
“I do not really think my wife meant to take her life.
“She just meant to scare me. Our marriage was fine before that. Everyone has arguments. We had been married for 10 years.”
The inquest heard that just before her death, Ghazala Yasin had confided in her sister about harming herself.
Saima Yasin said: “She was always a happy person and we were very close. That was the first time she had talked about harming herself.
“She just wanted to scare him. My brother was the first person in the kitchen. He tried to pat the flames out and I threw water over her.
“She was still conscious. She had used the gas cooker.”
Detectives had launched an investigation into Mrs Yasin’s death after finding no evidence of food preparation in the kitchen.
North Staffordshire coroner Ian Smith had delayed the start of the inquest because Mrs Yasin’s sister had not turned up.
He said: “This is not simply a matter to be swept under the carpet. I find it very odd that no other members of the family are here.
“I do not know what it takes for someone to do what she did. One might regard it as courage, one might regard it as insanity.
“Did she intend to kill herself? I have some doubt and am not prepared to record the suicide verdict.
“I’m recording a narrative verdict. I do not know whether it was an accident or a cry for help. She died as a result of self-inflicted burns following a family dispute.”
