Yazan Khatib’s mothers remains have been found in a lay-by off the A19 in Thirsk (Image: Manchester Evening News)
The son of a woman murdered by his father has told how his dad confessed to where he had buried her body during a prison visit.
Yazan Khatib, 21, spoke out as police confirmed they had found the remains of Rania Alayed, 25, next to the A19 at Thirsk in North Yorkshire.
Rania was murdered by her husband Ahmed Al-Khatib, 46, 11 years ago but her body was never found.
Last night Yazan revealed how his dad confessed to knowing where the body was during a two hour prison visit earlier his year.
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Rania Alayed (Image: Yazan Khatib / SWNS)
Yazan said his father made the confession during a visit to HMP Dovegate in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, where he is serving life for murder.
Yazan, who was just nine-years-old when his mum died, told Greater Manchester Police (GMP) about this information.
He said Al-Khatib later went to the site with officers to point out an exact location.
He hopes if the remains are officially confirmed to be his mums, then he believes he will finally be able to give his mum a “proper resting place.”
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Rania Alayed and Yazan Khatib, when he was younger (Image: Yazan Khatib / SWNS)
Yazan said: “He told me to approach the police and tell them that he’s ready to review the location.
“They reviewed it and they started to search on Monday.
“With regards to what he committed, he has asked for forgiveness thoroughly and he has always told me that if there’s anything he can do to bring closure, then I can ask him anything.
“He said that he told me about the remains for me.
“There were previously searches of land but they were unsuccessful on purpose, that’s what my dad has told me.
“He wanted me to wait until I was a grown up so he would explain everything to me.
“Now that I am an adult and have a bit more of an understanding on me, he said he would disclose the location properly this time and it seems like he has done that.”
Yazan now hopes that if tests officially confirmed the remains belong to his mum it will help provide closure.
Yazan said: “I feel like closure will be provided.
“I have been wanting to find out where my mum is, so we can provide her a proper resting place, for the last 11 years.
“This is something that has been on my mind every day.
“It was very pleasing to hear that the remains have been found from a chief inspector.”
Yazan paid tribute to his mother saying she was a “fantastic and very kind person”.
He said: “She was a fantastic mother to me and my two siblings.
“She was studying English at college.
“She was a very kind person and she was just everything a child could ask for when it comes to their mum.”
Yazan, a student nurse, was placed in foster care after his mum died and first started visiting his dad in prison when he was around 13 or 14 years old and now goes to see him around every three months.
Yazan says he remembers his parents sometimes arguing and going to a police station when his mum died.
He said: “I would sometimes hear arguments in the house that we were living in at the time.
“When the incident happened, I remember going to a police station in Manchester – I don’t know where my little sister was at the time.
“We were then told and were put in foster care.”
Rania was killed by Al-Khatib, 46, at an apartment in Salford, Greater Manchester, in June 2013.
Al Khatib was handed a minimum term of 20 years for Rania’s murder.
Rania Alayed was murdered in 2013 (Image: Yazan Khatib / SWNS)
Detectives were told that the remains were buried close to a lay-by on the A19 but despite several previous searches they were not found.
Now following a new search earlier this week remains have been discovered close by.
Rania grew up in refugee camps in Syria where she met Al-Khatib, who was nine years older than her, and they married when she was 15 and moved to the UK in 2005.
During Al-Khatib’s trial at Manchester Crown Court, he became increasingly jealous and controlling of Alayed and subjected her to years of domestic and sexual violence.
In January 2013, she reported him to the police for domestic abuse, obtained a non-molestation order and moved into a homeless hostel with Yazan and his two siblings.
Al-Khatib then killed Rania at his brother’s flat in Salford, Greater Manchester and even posed as her on social media and messaged her family, to pretend she was alive.
He told Manchester Crown Court that he killed Rania in self-defence after an evil spirit entered her, but he denied murder and was jailed for a minimum term of 20 years after being found guilty.
Al-Khatib also admitted perverting the course of justice by transporting and concealing Rania’s body.
The prosecution said Rania had been killed for becoming “too westernised” and “establishing an independent life” and Mr Justice Leggatt, sentencing Al-Khatib, said she had suffered “years of abuse.”
His brother Muhanned Al-Khatib was found not guilty of murder and received a three-year term after also admitting perverting the course of justice by transporting and concealing Rania’s body.
A third brother, Hussain Al-Khatibm was jailed for four years for perverting the course of justice.
Yazan, of Manchester, remembers that his mum was a “fantastic and very kind person.”