A FAMILY still mourning the deaths of a husband, wife and their daughter shot dead in Pakistan was burgled shortly after returning to East Lancashire.

Intruders broke into the Yousaf family home in Howgill Close, Nelson, less than 24 hours after the relatives of shooting victims Mohammed, Parvaiz and Tania jetted into Manchester Airport from Islamabad.

The family had asked to be left to grieve in private after returning from north-east Pakistan, where they had sought answers over the triple killing of the Yousafs at a cemetery in a Gujrat village.

Burglars are thought to have been disturbed in the act and escaped empty handed, but the break-in only added to the family’s difficulties. The house belongs to the Yousafs’ son Kamar.

Coun Nadeem Ahmed, Pendle’s deputy mayor, said he had heard about the burglary from Kamar shortly after it happened.

He said: “After everything they have gone through they didn’t need any further aggravation, which this incident has caused them.”

The only saving grace, said Coun Ahmed, was that no valuable items or personal effects had been stolen “which would have been even worse”.

Coun Eileen Ansar, whose husband Mohammed is a cousin of the couple, said: “It was the day after they came back and they already had enough on their plate.”

Coun Mohammed Iqbal, also a family friend, said: “It is a despicable crime to commit when people are already grieving. The courts should come down on whoever has done this as hard as they can.

“It was an extremely tragic event and the family is vulnerable.”

Meanwhile the hunt for four gunmen suspected of carrying out the cemetery attacks is continuing in the Gujarat region.

Police have been trying to track down brothers Naveed and Shiraz Arif, who were released on ‘protective bail’ as part of the inquiry.

The incident is said to have been sparked by a dispute involving an arranged marriage and one of the Yousaf’s sons.

* Three men have appeared before Burnley magistrates charged with the alleged Howgill Close burglary.

Caspian Preem Raphael, 19, of Whitehall Street, Nelson, Hal Martin Rattigan, 21, of Halifax Road, Briercliffe, and Joe Ashley Shepherd, 21, of Park View Close, Brierfield, were bailed until July 16, for crown court committal proceedings.

Rattigan and Shepherd face two charges of house burglary and taking a vehicle without consent. Raphael is accused of one burglary.