When Nasser Shaikh was opening presents with his baby daughter on Christmas Day morning in 2011, he received a phone call that was to change his life forever.
It was his father on the other end, with the muffled cries of his mother in the background. The phone was passed on to a police officer at his parents’ home, who asked Nasser to confirm his identity and that of his brother, Khuram Shaikh. READ MORE: 'He's dead now': Boy who murdered Reece Tansey then posted chilling videos of the aftermath jailed In the next moment, Nasser heard an incredible roar pour out of him.
He had just been told his younger brother was dead. “I still remember the call,” the NHS programme manager, who lives in Cheadle, said. “I just remember this almighty roar, I screamed. “I couldn’t breathe, I had to open up the window in the living room to get some fresh air. “My wife came running down and knew something had gone wrong at that point, we were just both crying, totally distraught.” Khuram Shaikh, from Rochdale, was killed on holiday in Sri Lanka on Christmas Day in 2011.
He worked as an International Red Cross aid worker in Gaza and would normally have come home to Milnrow for Christmas, but had changed his plans and decided to visit at Easter, to fit around a new posting.
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