Police failings 'materially contributed' to the murders of a 22-year-old woman and her mother, an inquest has found. Raneem Oudeh and Khaola Saleem, 49, were stabbed to death by Oudeh's estranged husband, Janbaz Tarin, outside Saleem's home in Solihull in August 2018. Tarin had subjected Oudeh to stalking, domestic violence and coercive control for more than a year.
The inquest at Birmingham Coroner's Court concluded that West Midlands Police officers breached the force's domestic abuse policy on several 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'. Oudeh made at least seven calls to emergency services in the lead-up to her death, including one while she was being attacked.
Oudeh's aunt, Nour Norris, criticised the police response, saying: 'The level of failure was appalling. There was so much evidence, but he wasn't arrested even once, he wasn't questioned even once.' Norris said officers showed a 'dismissive attitude' and a lack of understanding of domestic violence, which she believes empowered Tarin.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it found West Midlands Police 'missed opportunities' to take 'positive action'. IOPC regional director Derrick Campbell said that 'satisfactory intelligence checks were not carried out' and that incidents were dealt with 'in isolation' rather than considering the cumulative risk. Tarin admitted the double murder and was jailed for life with a minimum of 32 years in December 2018.
