Woman’s head and legs present in bin whereas dismembered physique dumped in separate skip
A favourite destination for British tourists has been rocked by a gruesome murder after a woman’s severed head and legs were found in a bin and her torso discovered wrapped in a sheet
The residence of the Saudi consul is cordoned off by Turkish police in Istanbul, on October 16, 2018(Image: AFP/Getty Images)
A capital city, much appreciated by British tourists, has been shaken by a gruesome crime. Consequently, locals have discovered a woman’s severed head and legs dumped in a bin.
Moreover, the victim’s dismembered torso was reportedly discovered wrapped in a sheet in a separate skip located at an upmarket. The grim discovery has subsequently sparked outrage and mass protests.
A paper collector searching for recyclables made the horrific find in the upscale Şişli district of Istanbul, Turkey, local media reported. The remains reportedly belonged to a 37-year-old woman from Uzbekistan.
Investigators, combing through CCTV footage, soon spotted two men discarding a suitcase at another bin. According to local reports, this is where the woman’s head and legs were later found.
Within hours, police apprehended two Uzbek nationals at Istanbul Airport as they allegedly attempted to flee to Georgia. A third suspect was subsequently arrested, The Sun reported.
According to local reports, one of the men confessed to the killing, claiming he had been in a romantic relationship with the victim. Şişli, known as Istanbul’s financial and business hub, is home to major corporate headquarters, luxury shopping centres, and historic landmarks.
The shocking murder has ignited outrage among women’s rights groups, who quickly organised protest marches in both Istanbul and Ankara. Footage from NGOs showed large crowds gathering at Osmanbey metro station in Şişli, holding banners with messages such as “Stop male violence!”, “We demand justice for women who are murdered”, and “Migrant women are not alone”.
Because Turkey does not officially track femicide statistics, women’s organisations rely on media reports to compile data. According to Turkey’s Stop Femicides, 294 women were killed by men in 2025, and 297 more died under suspicious circumstances.
Şişli’s imprisoned mayor, Resul Emrah Sahan, described such killings as a “major social problem”. He wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter), “Femicides are turning into an ever-growing massacre through impunity, negligence, and silence”, and called for coordinated action to address the crisis.
In the UK, femicide statistics remain “shockingly consistent” year on year, with the stark reality that, on average, a woman is killed by a man every three days, according to Women’s Aid. In 2022, the most recent year with fully verified census data, 122 women were killed by men, with approximately 51% of these victims losing their lives at the hands of a current or former intimate partner.
Official police records for England and Wales show that, in the year ending March 2024, there were 83 female victims of domestic homicide, out of a total of 108 domestic homicides, including male victims, as per Femicide Census. Notably, nearly one in 10 women killed by men between 2009 and 2024 were mothers killed by their sons.
Ongoing investigations indicate that at least 80 women were allegedly killed by men in the UK during 2024 alone.
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