Was it an honour killing?

The British police seem to think so, reports The Times, London, even if they are not spelling it out.

Instead, they say Shafilea Ahmed was trapped between two cultures. Her body was discovered hidden in the undergrowth near the River Kent at Sedgwick.

Shafilea's disappearance was first reported to the police by the staff at her old school, Greater Sankey High School, after teachers heard students talking about it. Her parents, Iftikhar and Farzana, say Shafilea had done this before and the police response then had not been encouraging.

The Ahmeds, who were arrested on suspicion of kidnapping their daughter, are on bail. They are mourning her loss and say they are innocent.

The Ahmeds who have four more children -- three girls and a boy -- made an unscheduled appearance at a police press briefing, where their lawyer suggested the police were targeting them because of racial stereotyping. He appealed to the police to broaden their investigation and work with them to uncover Shafilea's killer.

The police, who appear convinced Shafilea was kidnapped and murdered, have searched the Ahmeds' house and the surrounding area.

They found poems written by Shafilea, which reveal the angst of a teenager trapped between a traditional Muslim culture at home and the Western culture she was exposed to the minute she stepped out of the door.

Shafilea, who has been described as intelligent and ambitious, had recently been to Pakistan with her father, where she apparently faced pressure to opt for an arranged marriage. She hoped to be a lawyer and was studying for her A levels at the time of her disappearance.