Man and his brother murdered secret lover on Christmas Eve in aberrant plot

 Christmas is the time to be with the people you love, and Sameena Imam intended to do just that. She’d booked two nights in a hotel in Birmingham to spend the festive period with her lover, Roger Cooper. But Roger had a long-term partner, so their love affair was burdened with secrecy.

But as Sameena travelled to meet him on Christmas Eve 2014, she was confident that Roger was finally ready to commit to her. She believed their festive mini-break was the start of them spending the rest of their lives together – except Roger had other ideas.
Sameena would never get to celebrate Christmas because Roger didn’t want anyone to know about their affair. With the help of his brother, Roger smothered Sameena to death on Christmas Eve and abandoned her in a shallow grave at an allotment.

 

Sameena was smothered to death while sitting on a sofa

Sameena, 34, had been a regional marketing manager for the cash and carry company Costco. She was outgoing, popular and hard-working. Sameena lived in Cardiff but she travelled to several branches of Costco across in the country, including Southampton, Bristol and Coventry.

Ready to commit

It was at the Coventry warehouse that Sameena met Roger – and she’d been having an affair with him for two years.
Roger, 41, was the branch manager and although he had a long-term partner, he was seeing Sameena and, unknown to her, another woman in the store too.
Roger was juggling three women, but for Sameena, the relationship was serious and she wanted Christmas to be special. She booked two nights at the luxury Malmaison Hotel in Birmingham from December 24, and she’d reserved a table for a traditional Christmas lunch the next day.
Roger had told her he’d end things with his girlfriend and finally commit. Sadly, he was lying. For at least a month leading up to Christmas, Roger had been plotting with his ex-soldier brother David, 39, on how to end things with Sameena.
They’d decided to kill her.

PA

Roger (right) enlisted his brother David Cooper to help him plot Sameena's murder

On Christmas Eve, Roger and Sameena met at the Coventry branch of Costco. Sameena left her car there and Roger drove them to their mini-break hotel. Sameena was excited – and had brought a bottle of Bellini to celebrate.
Before heading to the hotel, Roger must have told her that they were going to visit his brother quickly at his home in Leicester. Minutes after arriving at the house, at around 5pm, they attacked her.
They covered her mouth with a chloroform-soaked cloth and smothered her to death on the sofa. It’s not known for sure how her body was moved, but it’s thought David was the one who later buried Sameena at his allotment.
Roger used Sameena’s phone to send a text making out she was angry that he’d supposedly cancelled their hotel stay. It read, "I’m fuming. I’m going to where I am truly cared for."
Then, on Christmas Day, Roger texted her a message saying, "Merry Christmas".
Sameena’s family in Essex reported her missing when she didn’t appear on Boxing Day and a manhunt began. Roger claimed the last time he’d seen Sameena was when he dropped her off at a Tesco store in Coventry.
But the bottle of Bellini that CCTV confirmed Sameena had bought was in the fridge at David’s Leicester home. Registration plate recognition saw Roger had driven there.


On January 7 this year, Roger and David were arrested. While Roger denied everything, David made a chilling confession – but even that wasn’t the truth.
He said Roger had been round to his house – and minutes after he’d left, a woman knocked on the door.
"This lady, I didn’t know her name, she died on my sofa," he was recorded saying.
David said Sameena was moaning about arrangements she’d made with Roger. Being a loyal brother, David said he wanted to give Roger a head start to get away in case she found out where he lived.