THE father of an Asian girl found dead after refusing an arranged marriage has failed in a High Court fight to overturn a coroner’s finding his daughter was “unlawfully killed”.

The body of 17-year-old Shafilea Ahmed was found in the Lake District, in February, 2004. She was 90 miles from her home in Warrington.

The student was last seen five months earlier.

She had previously refused an arranged marriage, and, during a visit to Pakistan to meet a prospective husband, drank bleach and spent five weeks in hospital.

Police initially worked on the theory she was the victim of an “honour killing” and arrested and questioned her parents, Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed, on suspicion of kidnapping.

But a Crown Prosecution Service investigation found there was no chance of anyone being convicted on the evidence available.

In January last year, South Cumbria coroner Ian Smith entered a verdict of “unlawful killing”.

This week, at the High Court, lawyers representing Shafilea’s father criticised the procedure and conclusion of the inquest and asked a top judge, Mr Justice Irwin, to overturn the verdict.

Yesterday, Mr Justice Irwin said: “I find there is absolutely no basis in any of the points to suggest there was apparent bias.”