Anisah Ahmed went to extreme lengths to destroy the reputation of barrister and former boyfriend, Iqbal Mohammed - but where is she now?
The Real Fatal Attraction is a dramatised documentary airing on ITV, narrating the true story of Anisah Ahmed and her revenge campaign to destroy her former lover. Barrister Iqbal Mohammed was already married when he began dating Anisah, and while he accepts his actions were wrong, the lengths Anisah took to ruin his life and career left him suspended from work and held in prison cell accused of rape.
Iqbal has likened his terrifying story to the events that unfold in the 1987 movie, Fatal Attraction. Viewers gripped by true crime stories often wonder what happened to the victims and perpetrators in the aftermath of the snippet of events from their lives shown on screen - those tuning into fellow ITV true crime drama Until I Kill You, asked for the more information about murderer John Sweeney now, and his only surviving victim, Delia Balmer. The Real Fatal Attraction has left viewers wanting to know where Anisah Ahmed is now - we reveal everything we know.
Warning: This article contains references to sensitive subject matters.
Where is Anisah Ahmed now?
Despite receiving a life sentence for her crimes in 2021, Anisah Ahmed has recently been released from prison under a home detention curfew. Seven months after being handed the life sentence, it had already been reduced to ten years by the Court of Appeal, but she is now reportedly free after three years.
According to The Sun, The Ministry of Justice has confirmed Anisah's release and the terms of her curfew means she must wear an electronic tag and can only leave her house at designated times. The publication also reports Iqbal Mohammed was not made aware of her release, and was left very upset by the news.
Iqbal reportedly said, "I can’t believe nobody bothered to bloody tell me this before. It’s unbelievable. I’ve been completely left in the dark," when delivered the news.
He added, "My issue is not that she should be in prison longer because I dislike her, or I want her to be punished. It is that that was the time they felt she needed to be rehabilitated, and now I’m scared that that time has not been given to her to allow her to do that."
What did Anisah Ahmed do?
It's believed Anisah Ahmed first became aware of Iqbal Mohammed when he appeared on the BBC documentary The Barristers, that followed a group of law students making their way in the profession after passing the Bar Vocational Course. She's said to have contacted Iqbal through LinkedIn in 2013, and they began a nine-month affair despite Iqbal having married his wife, Lubna, the same year.
Anisah was said to be furious when she found out Iqbal was married, and contacted his wife to let her know of the affair. She then began forging emails from his work account and reported him to the police by alleging he was threatening to post intimate pictures of her online.
When this didn't get Iqbal into the level of trouble she was hoping for, Anisah falsely accused him of rape, and he was arrested in June 2015 and detained in a cell for several hours.
In a final plot to destroy Iqbal, Anisah involved an ex-boyfriend of hers to help her carry out a plot to suggest Iqbal had hired a hitman to kidnap her - she asked her former boyfriend to stab her to make the kidnap plot look authentic. When he refused, Anisah stabbed her own leg and mentioned Iqbal's name in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, to implicate him in the planned ordeal.
Iqbal hoped to use his legal knowledge to clear his name, and when studied carefully, details of Anisah's story didn't add up and she was arrested for her crimes. Speaking of her plot to stab herself in the leg, Iqbal said, "If someone’s prepared to stab their leg with a knife - and that cut must have been really painful - what else are they prepared to do? Part of my fear was also what would she do to herself and blame me for? Her idea was no one would accuse me of doing this to myself because that’s insane, crazy, so it must be Iqbal."
It's now believed Iqbal has reunited with his wife.
The Real Fatal Attraction airs at 9pm on Wednesday November 13, on ITV1. It will be available to stream on demand afterwards on ITVX.
