Shafilea Ahmed's father tells court he never harmed her Shafilea Ahmed, who disappeared in September 2003 was found dead by a flooded river the following February. The father of Shafilea Ahmed, the 17-year-old girl found dead nine years ago, has taken to the witness box to give evidence in his defence. Iftikhar Ahmed, 52, a taxi driver from Warrington, Cheshire, told Chester crown court on Wednesday that he had not harmed his daughter, adding that he had never harmed her, contrary to his wife's claim in a new defence statement. He specifically denied a claim in Farzana Ahmed's statement that he had harmed his daughter on 11 September 2003, the day Shafilea went missing from home. Both Farzana and Iftikhar Ahmed are on trial accused of murdering their daughter at their home almost nine years ago. They deny murder. Earlier this week, his wife significantly changed her defence statement. Iftikhar Ahmed said he had read his wife's new defence statement and was aware of its contents - including the claim that he had been violent towards Shafilea. Tom Bayliss QC, his defence barrister, asked him: "Is what she is saying in that document the truth?" "No," Ahmed replied, shaking his head. He spoke in a clear, calm voice. He said the document did not alter his feelings towards his wife. "She's still my wife and I love her to bits," he said. Describing the aftermath of Shafilea's disappearance, he said: "It was constant media attention, police presence, social services presence every day ... just questions, questions, questions. We never got any rest from it. The children were having to listen to the news media. Taunting from children in the school. Children say a lot of things when they have read the news. Then I was having to comfort them when they came home. Asked about being arrested on suspicion of kidnap, Ahmed said: "We didn't expect the police to come and investigate us for kidnapping. That was a shock in itself ... the way the inquiry was, it was constant finger-pointing, like the parents are involved one way or another. Ahmed became tearful when recalling hearing the news of a body being found in February 2004, at a flooded river in Sedgwick, Cumbria. "I couldn't believe what we heard," he said, adding that he and his wife hoped the body was "somebody else." As a result of the constant visitors to the house following his daughter's disappearance and death, he said they were not able to grieve properly. He said there was a "constant presence" from police and social services. Describing Shafilea to the jury, Iftikhar Ahmed said she was talented and athletic. Education-wise, she was absolutely brilliant. Her best subject was art. She liked making mosaics. She was a character in herself. Very bubbly, very talkative," he said, smiling. Everything a child should be. He told the court he "totally agreed" with his daughter's ambition to become a lawyer. She was special in her own way. The barrister asked how the death of their daughter and the accusation that the couple were responsible had affected the family and his relationship with his wife. He replied: "As a couple, it's devastating, not something we expected." The runup to the trial, he said, had made them "come closer" as a family. "We have been fighting to achieve justice for our daughter Shafilea," he added. We have wanted to know what happened to her - this has been the case from day one. Asked if he thought he would ever know what happened to Shafilea, he responded: "We were hoping so but I don't think we ever will." He recalled that when Shafilea went missing from home, he came home from work in the early hours of the morning and found his wife "sat on the stairs crying." Ahmed denied taking money from his daughter and he said his wife had not taken money from her either. He recalled reporting his daughter missing to police on an earlier occasion before 2003 and said he had attended a police station and told the person on the desk what had happened. "He looked at me and said: 'How old is she?'" he told the court. I said: 'She's 16.' According to Ahmed, the person shrugged his shoulders and replied: "What do you want me to do?" He told him: "Write a report." Describing his general attitude towards arranged marriage, he said: "If the children agree with it, then it is no problem." Specifically asked if there was an arranged marriage for Shafilea, he said: "No." He accused a teacher, Joanne Code, who has given the evidence for the prosecution, of becoming "emotionally involved" with his daughter and behaving unprofessionally. Ahmed also accused the media of writing stories "every year" claiming Shafilea's parents were involved in her death. The prosecution case is that the couple jointly murdered their daughter when she resisted their calls for an arranged marriage.