Three members of a Huddersfield family are expected to return to prison after the Supreme Court reinstated convictions relating to serious injuries suffered by a vulnerable woman who was left in a persistent vegetative state.

Asgar Sheikh and his parents, Khalid Sheikh and Shabnam Sheikh, were jailed in February 2024 after being convicted of causing or allowing serious physical harm to Asgar’s wife, Ambreen Sheikh.

Asgar’s sister, Shagufa Sheikh, received a suspended sentence.

Ambreen had moved from Pakistan to Huddersfield to begin a new life before suffering a severe burn to her lower back and buttocks at the family home.

She subsequently became unconscious and was left in a persistent vegetative state.

During proceedings, Ambreen was described as a bright and ambitious young woman.

Jurors at the original trial heard that she suffered the burn before being given glimepiride, a medication used to treat diabetes, which caused her condition to deteriorate further.

Convictions previously overturned

The family’s convictions for causing or allowing serious physical injury were quashed by the Court of Appeal in January last year.

Appeal judges concluded there was insufficient evidence for a jury to find that the administration of glimepiride had been carried out maliciously and ruled that defence submissions of “no case to answer” should have succeeded.

The Crown Prosecution Service challenged that decision at the Supreme Court, arguing that the original convictions should be restored.

In a ruling delivered in July, Supreme Court judges agreed with the CPS and reinstated the convictions.

The Supreme Court concluded that the original trial judge had not misdirected the jury and had been entitled to reject the defence argument that there was no case to answer.

Separate convictions for perverting the course of justice had not been challenged.

Those offences related to delays in obtaining medical assistance for Ambreen and attempts to conceal the circumstances surrounding how she became unconscious.

Three expected to return to custody

Asgar, Khalid and Shabnam Sheikh were originally each sentenced to seven years and nine months in prison.

Following the Supreme Court ruling, they are expected to be summoned before Leeds Crown Court, where the decision will be formally recorded.

They are then expected to be returned to custody to serve the remainder of their sentences.