A MURDER suspect said he was "speechless" after being arrested for the killing of Khuram Mukhtar just seconds after jetting back to the UK.

Print firm manager Ian Christopher Priddle, 46, was detained by detectives along with his girlfriend Yasira Pervez, 22, over the murder of Mr Mukhtark, her husband, 48 hours previously at the Comfort Inn in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

But Priddle, of Jubilee Road, Haslingden, has told Manchester Crown Court he believed Yasira had got divorced from her Pakistani husband months before.

Mr Mukhtar was found with knife wounds to his lungs, stomach, heart and liver in the Rawalpindi hotel room and prosecutors allege Priddle and Pervez killed him with a butcher's knife before flying back to Britain.

The court has heard that arrangements were being made for Mr Mukhtar to come to the UK and it is alleged that the killing was arranged by Pervez to ensure he never made it to this country.

But questioned by his barrister Richard Marks QC, Priddle said he believed the couple's trip to Pakistan was designed as a break, after he had lost £22,000 on a failed corner shop venture in Rossendale.

Asked about his airport arrest, he said: "I was speechless. I was shocked and I didn't know what to say. I just could not believe it."

He said that as far as he was aware, Pervez had divorced her Pakistani husband in December 2005. He had gone on the trip to learn more about his partner's cultural background.

Witness Tanveer Ahamad, who took the couple to a village near Islamabad, shortly after the alleged killing, claimed that Priddle was quiet and smoked heavily. The couple were said to have barely touched a meal prepared for them.

But Priddle said he was subdued because he did not understand where they were going, as the exercusion had been planned by Pervez.erly.

Questioned by Mr Marks, Priddle denied any involvement in Mr Mukhtar's killing.

The court heard that two wounds, found on his hands when he was examined by a police surgeon after his arrest, and blood on his clothing, had been caused either while he was lifting suitcases out of taxis or from a slight paper cut.

Priddle also denied that two notes, given to Pervez by police after their arrest, apparently confessing to his involvement in the killing, bore any truth.

Pervez, of Pendle Street, Accrington, who claims that Priddle carried out the murder and was physically abusive to her, has declined to give evidence in her own defence.

Priddle has denied ever physically hurting Pervez, either before or after the alleged killing.

He said he had initially denied having a sexual relationship with her as this would have got her into trouble with her Muslim parents, who held traditional views on marriage.