A man who drove hundreds of miles with the body of a young woman murdered in an 'honour killing' stuffed into a suitcase in his car boot has failed in a bid to get out of jail.

Banaz Mahmod was just 20 when she was strangled to death with a shoelace by her father and uncle in 2006 after walking out of a violent arranged marriage and falling in love with another man.

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Banaz Mahmod was murdered in an honour killing by her father

Her cousin, Dana Amin, of Armfield Crescent, Mitcham, was found guilty last December of perverting the course of justice and preventing a lawful burial of Banaz Mahmod.

Amin, 30, was sentenced to eight years in jail at Southwark Crown Court for his part in the shocking crime.

Appearing at The Court of Appeal today, he challenged his convictions, with his lawyers arguing covert recordings made in prison of conversations between Banaz’s father and uncle should not have been played to jurors.

But his appeal was dismissed by three of the country's top judges, who said the trial judge was entitled to admit the conversations in evidence and that the convictions were 'safe'.

The judges also rejected an appeal against his jail term saying it was 'not excessive' given the total lack of remorse he showed for his crimes.

Iraq-born Banaz was murdered by members of her family because she walked out of a violent arranged marriage and fell in love with another man, Rahmat Sulemani, the court heard.

Her father, Mahmod Mahmod, plotted with her uncle, Ari Mahmod, to kill the couple after the pair were seen kissing.

Her father told her by telephone that she had brought shame on her family and that she was going to be killed.

Banaz told police and ambulance staff when she was taken to hospital following an attempt on her life on New Year's Eve 2005 that her family was trying to kill her.

Following that the couple pretended they were no longer seeing each other, but continued to meet in secret but her family found out.

A failed attempt to kidnap Mr Sulemani was made on January 22, 2006, and he reported Banaz missing three days later - against her family's wishes.

On January 23, the eve of her death, Amin attended a meeting in Brixton with other family members to discuss plans to kill Banaz.

He and two other cousins, Mohammed Ali, and Omar Hussain - who were jailed in 2010 after being extradited from Iraq - discussed plans to kill her and, while none of them were convicted of murder, they travelled to Birmingham in Amin's black Lexus to help get rid of her body.

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The suitcase Banaz Mahmod was found in

Rejecting his sentence appeal, Lord Justice Fulford said the conviction and sentence was justified in light of the fact Amin knew what would happen to his cousin and did nothing.

He said: "The judge was quite satisfied Amin was one of the members of the family who had known that this young woman - his cousin - and the man with whom she had been having a relationship were to be murdered.

"He was aware of the previous attempt on her life and he had also been present at a meeting on January 23.

"He had taken no steps - no steps - to prevent what later occurred and, although he was not party to the murder, he had answered the call to help with the concealment and disposal of the body in order to prevent those responsible from being brought to justice."