An evil husband and the drug addict he hired to kill his wife have today been jailed for life for her murder.

Newham Recorder: Amina Bibi died from more than 70 stab wounds at her home in Forest Gate (Picture: Metropolitan Police)Amina Bibi died from more than 70 stab wounds at her home in Forest Gate (Picture: Metropolitan Police) (Image: Archant)

Mohamed Ali will spend a minimum of 24 years behind bars after paying crack cocaine addict Frederick Best £1,000 to kill his wife of 14 years, Amina Bibi, even helping him to enter the couple’s flat in Forest Gate.

Best, who will serve a minimum of 30 years, stabbed the mum-of-two more than 70 times in a frenzied attack that stopped only when he was disturbed by the her 11-year-old son who had returned home after forgetting his homework and books for school.

Sentencing the killers at Woolwich Crown Court on Friday, his Honor Judge Richard Hone QC told Ali: “You planned this with incredible care. You lied to everyone, even your own sons. You have shown no real remorse.”

He said of Best: “You have shown not a glimmer of remorse or shame.”

Lead case officer, Det Ch Insp Dave Whellams, said: “This was a cold and calculated act planned and devised by Ali to have the mother of his two children killed.”

He said Ali, 65, of George Carver House, Forest Gate, had hired Best, 47, of Kebble Terrace, Forest Gate, to commit the heinous crime, arranging him to visit their flat on the morning of the murder and leaving communal doors open to aid his entry.

“He also gave Best a key to his front door to gain entry to the flat while Ali used the school run to provide himself with an alibi, secure in the knowledge that his unsuspecting wife was at home alone,” added Det Ch Insp Whellams.

“Within a minute of Ali leaving with his youngest child, Best entered and carried out a ferocious attack on Mrs Bibi, stabbing her approximately 70 times.”

During the investigation, officers identified Ali on CCTV speaking with another man outside the flat prior to the murder taking place.

On seizing both of his phones, they found one had repeatedly called a UK mobile number at the time of the murder which turned out to belong to Best. Both were charged with murder in September last year.

Ali’s motive for killing his wife is unclear. It was claimed in court he was having an affair with his sister-in-law in Pakistan, though he denied this.

He was also said to have built up a large amount of debt while Mrs Bibi had significant savings in the house.

Det Ch Insp Whellams siad: “This is a tragic case which has left two children without their mother and father, and also with them the knowledge that one of the parents was responsible for the death of the other.

“I only hope that over time the memory of it will fade in the minds of the children and that they will be able to overcome this tragic and brutal incident.”