The trial of a woman accused of organising a beauty contest so she could find a lookalike to kill to fake her death has got underway in Germany.

The alleged killer, named only as 24-year-old Shahraban K.B. because of local privacy laws, wanted to escape her strict Iraqi family by making them think that she was dead when they saw the body of her doppelganger in her car.

Prosecutors say her victim, named only as Khadidja O., was specially selected because of her amazing resemblance to the defendant.

They say Shahraban, 24, wanted to flee her strict Yazidi faith family and start a new life with her lover Sheqir and staged Khadidja’s killing so her body would be identified as her.

The couple met a few days before she persuaded him to help with the murder, promising a new life together, but shortly afterwards, text messages reveal she started to panic and contacted friends to see if she could get a fake passport. Meanwhile, her lover had made plans to flee to Luxembourg.

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When police started closing in and arrested her, she was carrying the designer handbag of her 23-year-old beauty blogger victim and was even wearing her top. An examination of the body of the victim found her DNA as further evidence that she was involved in the crime.

Both Shahraban and Sheqir, also 24, are facing murder charges at Ingolstadt District Court. In the state of Bavaria; the defence is currently requesting a delay in proceedings after new evidence came to light from house searches.

Prosecutors say the sick pair stabbed their victim more than 50 times after luring her to a meeting in August 2022. The couple had contacted lookalike girls on social media similar enough to Shahraban that they might pass for her when dead.

When the victim was told she had won the contest and accepted the role, they fixed a meeting in Eppingen, the victim’s hometown, and picked her up in a Mercedes.

State Prosecutor Veronika Grieser said: “They drove towards Ingolstadt but asked the 23-year-old to get out of the car in a forest.

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“She was hit on the head at least once and then stabbed 56 times.”

The killers then put their victim’s body back into the car and abandoned the vehicle just a few blocks from where Shahraban lived in Ingolstadt.

Her horrified parents discovered the victim’s body in the Mercedes later that day and were convinced it was their daughter.

The pair were only caught after an autopsy discovered the victim’s tattoos which revealed her true identity.

Jury chairman Konrad Kliegt from the Ingolstadt District Court revealed that the trial is likely to run until the end of June.

Court officials say 190 witnesses will give evidence, and both defendants will be represented by four lawyers each.

The pair face further charges of attempted incitement to murder for hiring a hitman to kill Sheqir’s brother for EUR 10,000 (GBP 8,238).

Prosecutors will also present evidence from an abandoned broken phone ditched by Shahraban. Which is said to show the shocking depth of the cruel deception.

The victim’s father will reportedly also take part in the proceedings as a co-plaintiff linked to the prosecution.