AN UNCLE of wife killer Danish Irfan has denied a new charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Nouman Qureshi, 32, was one of four men who faced the charge when they appeared at Bradford Crown Court today.

Irfan, 22, was sentenced to life imprisonment earlier this year after he was convicted of the murder of his wife, 21-year-old Ridda Zanab, at their home in Alford Terrace, Lidget Green, Bradford.

Irfan shattered his wife's skull with a claw hammer in a fit of jealous rage after finding out she loved another man.

He then flew from Heathrow Airport to Pakistan on a false passport, but later came back to the UK for his trial.

Today, Nouman Qureshi, of Kashmir Park, Halifax; Muhammed Qureshi, 39, of Pembroke Avenue, Luton, Bedfordshire; Faisal Chaudhary, 34, of Grantham Road, Ilford, Essex; and Javaid Awan, 32, of Blackburn Road, Ilford, all pleaded not guilty to the conspiracy charge.

It alleged that between November 2 and November 5, 2013, they conspired together, with Danish Irfan, to do an act, namely to help Danish Irfan to flee the country and so avoid his lawful arrest, that had a tendency to pervert the course of justice with intent.

Nouman Qureshi, who was dressed in a grey suit and open-necked purple shirt, clasped his hands in front of him and replied firmly: "Not guilty" when the charge was put to him.

The court heard that a trial date had already been fixed for April 7 next year.

Prosecutor Jonathan Sharp said the trial was likely to go into a second week. He said that two Urdu interpretors would be needed for the trial.

Judge Colin Burn ordered that the prosecution case summary be presented to defence lawyers by January 7.

He granted bail to all the defendants on condition that they live and sleep at their home addresses.

He varied Nouman Qureshi's bail to allow him to accompany his wife to the Czech Republic to visit an ill relative, on condition that he provides the police and the court with the dates of travel and a copy of the return ticket to this country from Prague.

When he was sentenced at at Bradford Crown Court in July, the trial judge Mr Justice Stuart-Smith told Irfan he must spend more than 15 years in jail.

The court heard he struck his wife with at least ten forceful blows with a claw hammer, leaving her unrecognisable.

The jury was told he tried to make two phone calls within minutes of the murder. Shortly afterwards he left the marital home in a taxi, having changed his clothes to flee the country.