Farzana Ahmed, 49, and her husband Iftikhar, 52, of Liverpool Road, Warrington, are on trial at Chester Crown Court charged with killing their daughter Shafilea, 17, in 2003.

Andrew Edis QC, prosecuting, said: "So what did you think when she didn't turn up?"

Mrs Ahmed, who spoke with the aid of an interpreter, replied: "I thought there was a reason why my daughter was not coming back home."

"And what was that?" Mr Edis asked. "I thought my husband took her. He must have done something," she said.

Mr Edis asked: "What did you think he must have done?" The defendant replied: "I thought he probably had killed her."

Mr Edis said that that was why the defendant said "finish it now" when it is alleged that she killed Shafilea with her husband.

"I did not say that to my husband," she said.

Mrs Ahmed has always denied murder, but earlier this month she changed her account and said she witnessed her husband beat Shafilea on the night of the alleged murder.

It was not until last year that Shafilea's younger sister, Alesha Ahmed said that she witnessed her parents killing Shafilea.

Alesha said her parents pushed Shafilea on to the settee and she heard her mother say "just finish it here" as they forced a plastic bag into her mouth and suffocated her.

Mr and Mrs Ahmed deny murder. The trial will continue on Monday.