A man has denied killing his girlfriend and hiding her body which was dumped in a suitcase.

Muhammad Arslan, 26, pleaded not guilty to the murder of student Hina Bashir, 21, and perverting the course of justice by concealing her body between July 10 and July 18.

Arslan appeared at the Old Bailey on Wednesday by video link from Belmarsh prison and was assisted by an interpreter.

The defendant, of Natal Road, Ilford, east London, faces a three-week trial starting on June 5 next year.

Ms Bashir was reported missing from Ilford on July 14, having last been seen alive on July 11.

Her father in Pakistan had contacted her employer at Queen Mary University in London where she worked part-time for a security company.

Ms Bashir had not turned up for work that day and her employer raised the alarm after visiting her home.

On July 17, her decomposing body was found in a foetal position inside a large suitcase dumped in a ditch in Folkes Lane, Upminster, east London.

Police officers using a sniffer dog made the discovery after following tracks on a grassy verge consistent with suitcase wheels.

Ms Bashir is a Pakistani national who had come to live in the UK in November 2021.

She had travelled on a student visa to study business management at Coventry University London.

She had been in a relationship with Arslan who came from the same village in Pakistan and had moved to Britain around six months before.