THE schoolgirl who was allegedly murdered by her family in a so-called 'honour' killing had planned to marry her boyfriend, a court heard.

Halil Unal, 41, the boyfriend of Woodford Green schoolgirl Tulay Goren, told the Old Bailey yesterday that he had agreed to marry her but found out her age when they went to a registrty office in Hackney.

Tulay, a Woodbridge High School student, disappeared from her family home in Glastonbury Avenue on January 7 1999.

She ran away from home and lived with Mr Unal before they tried unsuccessfully to get married, the court heard.

Her father Mehmet Goren, 49, is accused, along with his two brothers, Cuma Goren, 42, and Ali Goren, 55, both from Walthamstow, of killing her and conspiring to murder her boyfriend Halil Unal.

Tulay's family had already planned an arranged marriage for her with a cousin in Switzerland, and also found the relationship unacceptable because Mr Unal was an Alevi Muslim while the Goren family are Sunni Muslims, the court heard.

The teenager was never seen again and her body has never been found.

The trial continues.