A father-of-two has denied strangling his wife with a scarf when he appeared at the Old Bailey.

Abdul Kadir, 46, is charged with the murder of 29 year-old Mumtahina Jannat in East Ham on July 5.

Police were called to the couple’s home in Kempton Road at around 1pm to find the victim lying dead on the bedroom floor.

She had a scarf wrapped tightly around her throat and a postmortem later gave cause of death as asphyxia and compression of the neck.

Kadir, who came to the UK from Bangladesh in 2001, appeared in court before the Common Serjeant of London Judge Brian Barker.

Speaking through a Bengali interpreter he pleaded not guilty to a single count of murder.

A trial was set for February 27 next year. The case is due to last up to three weeks.

Kadir, of [118] Kempton Road, East Ham, was remanded in custody.