A man who was convicted of murdering his 15-year-old daughter in an honour killing has lost a legal challenge against his conviction. Mehmet Goren was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 22 years in 2009 for the murder of Tulay Goren, who disappeared in January 1999 after running away to live with her boyfriend.
The victim's body has never been found, making this one of only a handful of murder convictions in the UK without a corpse. At the trial, the prosecution argued that Goren killed his daughter after a family council decided she and her lover must die because she had lost her virginity, bringing shame on the family.
Goren's brothers, Ali and Cuma, were acquitted of involvement. Tulay's mother, Hanim, gave crucial testimony against her husband but lived in fear of reprisals. The case highlighted the issue of honour killings in Britain, with police estimating 12 such murders occur annually.
The Court of Appeal dismissed Goren's appeal, upholding the original conviction. The judge noted the murder was planned and carried out with considerable care, describing Goren as having a violent and dominating personality.
