The Real Fatal Attraction

75 mins

This documentary tells the shocking story of one woman’s terrifying campaign to destroy the life and reputation of a young barrister. As revenge for ending their brief affair she carried out a jaw-dropping and industrial-scaled campaign of harassment culminating in false allegations of rape, a staged kidnap and a horrific stabbing.

With access to the victim of the harassment and his family, friends and colleagues plus police investigators, lawyers and other key players we tell this extraordinary story. We will illustrate the events with a rich variety of archive (from police interview tapes to social media content to legal evidence), and some dramatic reconstruction of key moments in this incredible crime story.

The story begins in 2010 when 22-year-old Anisah Ahmed sends the first of many social media approaches to barrister Iqbal Mohammed, purporting to be seeking career advice. Her online overtures eventually lead to a meeting and a no strings attached affair.

But when Anisah discovers Iqbal is married and he breaks it off, it triggers an incredible, multi-layered plot of revenge. Over the years she carries out a series of calculated acts to destroy Iqbal including:-

• Harassment on a staggering scale – from fake social media accounts and false threatening calls, to fabricated documents and blackmail.
• False allegations of multiple rape and sexual offences - culminating in Iqbal’s public arrest at his Chambers and imprisonment which lead to him considering taking his own life
• A dramatic kidnap and near-fatal stabbing - later proved to be entirely staged. Anisah had sustained a life-threatening injury that investigators believe was inflicted by herself.

Anisah disguises her campaign of destruction under a highly manipulative plan to prove she is the victim of Iqbal instead - a ploy that she’s prepared to take to extreme lengths, reporting Iqbal to police forces in several different regions to evade suspicion.

As Anisahs campaign of revenge escalates Iqbals life is in ruins – his wifes leaves him, he is suspended from his work and ends up in a prison cell.
It’s only when Iqbal stages a huge fightback drawing on his legal skills that he is able to clear his name completely.

In a shocking denouement in April 2021, Anisah becomes - in a criminal law first - the first person to be given a life sentence for perverting the course of justice.

(In 2021 Anisha Ahmeds sentence is reduced on appeal to 10 years)