THE East Lancashire couple accused of killing their three-year-old daughter have both protested their innocence.

After they were remanded in custody by Blackburn magistrates, Asad Mujahid and his wife Taj Begum Ali issued statements through their solicitors.

Basharat Ditta, representing Mujahid, said: "My client maintains his complete innocence to the charges brought against him.

"He is devastated by the death of his daughter and he would ask that he and his family are allowed to grieve peacefully and in private."

Emma Morrissey, representing Ali, said: "My client is feeling the grief that only a mother can feel at the loss of a child.

"She maintains her complete innocence and at the moment cannot comprehend the tragic circumstances of the preceding week."

Ali, 24, who worked at packaging firm Strategy in Padiham before the birth of her children, is charged with the murder of Natalia Mujahid and the attempted murder of her one-year-old son Danish Mujahid, by giving them the heroin substitute, methadone. Mujahid, 27, is charged with the manslaughter of Natalia and wilful neglect of Danish.

Ali, who is six-and-a-half months pregnant, was sent in custody to Preston Crown Court after the magistrates rejected an application for bail by Miss Morrissey, who put forward sureties of more than £10,000 and a bail address in Manchester.

Mr Ditta successfully applied for his client not to be sent to the Crown Court until Wednesday when a bail application will be made.

Many relatives and friends of the couple, who live in Notre Dame Gardens, Balckburn, attended the hearing which lasted nearly two hours.