Readers will be aware of the current trial taking place of Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed accused of the tragic murder of their daughter Shafilea Ahmed, who was reported missing from her Warrington home in September 2003, and whose remains were sadly found a considerable distance away from her Cheshire home, in February 2004 near Sedgwick, Cumbria.

Followers of our website may be unaware that the Bolton Mountain Rescue Team alongside our Welsh MRT colleagues from North East Wales Search and Rescue Team, were involved over a large number of days assisting Cheshire Constabulary in the search for Shafilea throughout an extensive area around her home.

We reproduce below the Incident Reports which appeared at the time on our website;

Saturday 29th November 2003.
Incident 90/2003
This was the last scheduled day for our involvement in the Great Sankey, Warrington search to try and locate missing 17 year old Shefilea Ahmed. 27 Bolton Team members were involved, not forgetting our Search Dog “Chi”. Two of our members carried out canoe searches in the area, whist Chi and his handler Dave Marsh (with Andrew Ryding as navigator) covered specific areas alongside the rest of the team, in searches again near to the River Mersey, Ship Canal and Boat Canal. A large number of Police Officers from Cheshire Constabulary Search Team were also deployed, (as they had been all week and the previous week ).

Again the days’ searching was inconclusive, with Police enquiries now continuing utilising specialised search techniques and resources. In the teams’ five days of involvement in this search, we have contributed 68 man days (apologies to our female members!) of Bolton MRT searching, equating to 774.38 man hours – a tremendous contribution, which has been fully appreciated by Cheshire Constabulary.

Friday 28th November 2003.
Incident 89/2003
In a further continuation of our efforts at Great Sankey, Warrington, assisting Cheshire Constabulary in the search for missing 17 year old Shefilea Ahmed, five team members were involved all day in searches bordering the River Mersey and the Morley Common area. The days events were inconclusive.

Thursday 27th November 2003.
Incident 88/2003
Today, four team members were present on the Great Sankey, Warrington search, including for the first time from our team in this search, our Search Dog “Chi”. Joining yet again, Cheshire Police resources, a lot of ground was covered within the overall search plan, but the full days searching was inconclusive.

Tuesday 25th November 2003.
Incident 87/2003

In a continuation of the search in Great Sankey, Warrington, 3 team members joined a Cheshire police search team in searching the Sankey Valley Park area. It is likely that the Bolton team will also be involved in further searches on Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week.

Saturday 22nd November 2003.
Incident 85/2003

Saturday saw the Team being called out by Cheshire Constabulary, to assist them in the continuing search for a missing teenage girl, now sadly presumed dead by Police. 17 year old Shefilea Ahmed has been missing for over two months, and Police are now conducting an intensive search around her Great Sankey, Warrington, home. Our Team Leader was contacted for assistance on Friday 21st November, with a view to the team being involved from Saturday, 22nd November.

The Team departed Bolton at 07:15 hrs in the morning, arriving at the Cheshire Constabulary Control Point for a very thorough briefing. Joining Police Officers and our colleagues from North East Wales Search and Rescue Team, the team then went on to search areas bordering the Manchester Ship Canal and the River Mersey, in the Warrington area. Although exhaustive, the days’ searching was inconclusive, and the Bolton Team returned home at 19:00 hrs. (29 BMRT members were involved). Police enquiries are continuing, along with the search effort.