Police are continuing to hunt for a man they want to speak to in connection with a sexual assault in Salford.
04.03.2022 - 09:43 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A glamorous businesswoman who helped her drug dealer boyfriend commit crime and then lied to police to cover for him after a drive-by shooting has narrowly avoided jail.
Zain Sarfraz, who runs a successful make up brand, hired cars for her former partner, and gave him cash to buy drugs to sell on.
After a drive-by shooting in Cheetham Hill, which her boyfriend was alleged to be involved in, Sarfraz called police and claimed a Mercedes she had hired for him had been stolen.
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Shots were fired at two men, who were seriously hurt in November 2019.
At the time, Sarfraz didn't know the car had been involved in a shooting.
But in an interview with police two weeks later when she knew about the incident, she maintained her lie and claimed the car had been stolen.
Manchester Crown Court heard Sarfraz was in 'love' with her boyfriend, and that she wanted them to get married.
"She put her loyalty to him above the requirements of the criminal law," prosecutor Alexandra Sutton said.
During their relationship Sarfraz handed him cash to make bulk purchases of drugs and hired cars for him, knowing he was a drug dealer.
Sometimes she 'lambasted' him and urged him to get a legitimate job, but on other occasions she actively helped him.
A Mercedes hired by Sarfraz was used in a drive by shooting on the afternoon of Friday, November 19.
The car drove past a cafe off Cheetham Hill Road and shots were fired at two men, who suffered serious leg injuries.
The Mercedes was abandoned. Hours later, Sarfraz reported the car as having been stolen from outside her mother-in-law's house.
In an interview with police two weeks later, she maintained that the car
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