Police failings 'materially contributed' to the deaths of a 22-year-old woman and her mother who were murdered by the daughter's abusive former partner, an inquest has found. Raneem Oudeh and her mother, Khaola Saleem, 49, were stabbed to death by Oudeh's estranged husband, Janbaz Tarin, in August 2018, after he had subjected her to stalking, domestic violence and coercive control for more than a year.
The pair were killed outside Saleem's home in Solihull while Oudeh was on the phone to West Midlands police, one of at least seven calls she made to emergency services in the run-up to her death. The inquest at Birmingham coroner's court concluded on Friday that officers had breached the force's domestic abuse policy on a number of occasions. The jury found that 'officers failed to carry out effective investigations into potential offences' committed by Tarin, and 'failed to take sufficient steps to safeguard Raneem'.
Tarin previously admitted the double murder and was jailed for life with a minimum of 32 years in December 2018. Saleem's sister, Nour Norris, said she had struggled to contain her anger when the 999 calls made by her niece were played out in court. 'The level of failure was appalling. There was so much evidence, but he wasn't arrested even once, he wasn't questioned even once. If the issue was addressed early enough, maybe Raneem and Khaola would be with us today,' she said.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it found West Midlands police 'missed opportunities' to take 'positive action' for Oudeh and Saleem. IOPC regional director Derrick Campbell said: 'Our investigation found that satisfactory intelligence checks were not carried out when responding to incidents involving Raneem and her ex-partner. It was our view that WMP dealt with each incident in isolation and did not consider the cumulative effect and potential increase in the frequency and/or level of violence.'
The inquest heard that Oudeh had been subjected to months of violence and abuse at the hands of Tarin, who slept in a car outside her house when she tried to leave him. On one occasion he carved her name into his arm with a razor blade. A few months before her death, Oudeh had left Tarin as she believed he had a pregnant wife and children in his home country of Afghanistan who he had been keeping secret.
In the first call to police on 2 April 2018, Oudeh said: 'My old boyfriend, he is always forcing me to stay with him. He says: 'I will kill you if you leave me.'' In a call the following month, she told police Tarin punched her in her face and stomach, although she later retracted her complaint after speaking with Tarin. On the night of their murders, Tarin accosted Oudeh and her mother at a shisha lounge, and slapped Saleem in the face. Oudeh called the police four times, but officers were delayed by a firearms incident in the area. She was still on the phone to police when she returned to her mother's house, where Tarin was waiting. Screaming can be heard in the background of the call, along with the words 'he's there, there, there'.
