A handyman who killed a doctor and her daughter after giving them drug-laced smoothies before attempting to frame them for a murder-suicide has been jailed for life.
Devious Shahbaz Khan, 52, pleaded guilty at Preston Crown Court in June this year to murdering Dr Saman Mir Sacharvi, 49, and her 14-year-old daughter Vian Mangrio, at their home in Burnley on September 30 last year.
He had attempted to blame a ghost named Robert for the appalling crimes, which has seen his wife Rabia Shahbaz, 45, jailed for 30 months for giving him an alibi.
The bodies of Saman and Vian were found on the morning of October 1, 2020, after police were called to their home address over concerns for their welfare.
Vian's body was found badly burnt in a downstairs room, while Saman's body was found upstairs. Attempts had also been made to burn her body, but the fire had failed to take hold.
Khan, of Burnley, had tried to frame his crimes as a murder suicide and even wrote fake angry messages on the wall trying to hint the mother had killed her daughter.
Sentencing Khan and Shahbaz, Mr Justice Goss told him: 'These were premeditated, callous and merciless murders of a devoted mother and her young and loving teenage daughter.
'The murders were planned and motivated by financial gain.'
Shahbaz Khan, 52, and his wife Rabia Shahbaz, 45, have both been jailed over the murders
Dr Saman Mir Sacharvi, 49, and her 14-year-old daughter Vian Mangrio, at their Burnley home
Devious Khan wrote messages on their wall to try and fake they had died in a murder-suicide
The court heard he had used rose wine to make smoothies which he laced with Valium for them
A post-mortem examination concluded Saman died from pressure to the neck, the home office pathologist concluding that it is likely that she had been strangled with a
