West Midlands Police sorry for failings that ‘materially contributed’ to Raneem Oudeh & Khaola Saleem deaths

A jury at the inquests into the deaths of Raneem Oudeh and her mother Khaola Saleem has ruled that the pair were unlawfully killed.

The pair were killed in Solihull in 2018 by Raneem’s estranged husband Janbaz Tarin. But the jury at their inquests has found that police errors “materially contributed” to their deaths. West Midlands Police has issued an apology to the family today (Friday, November 18).

In their final hours Ms Oudeh made three calls to police after Tarin attacked her at a restaurant and followed the pair home, but officers failed to reach them in time.

Assistant Chief Constable Andy Hill said: “The murders of Raneem Oudeh and her mother Khaola Saleem in 2018 are among the most shocking and appalling crimes in our region in recent years.

“On behalf of West Midlands Police, I would like to apologise to Raneem and Khaola’s family – we should have done more. Their dignity throughout the inquest has been humbling.

“More could have been done to protect Raneem from the campaign of domestic abuse that she suffered in the months leading up to her death at the hands of the man who would go on to kill her and her mother.

“The events leading up to this awful tragedy have rightly been examined in detail in the inquest and by other organisations to ensure that lessons can be learned and to give the families the answers they deserve.

“It is clear that we should have done more to join-up the incidents of abuse that were being reported to us so that the officers considering Raneem’s case had a full picture of the ordeal that Raneem was enduring at the hands of Janbaz Tarin.

“The seriousness and pattern of abuse should have been better recognised, the risk posed by Mr Tarin should have been better assessed and the crimes that were being committed should have been better identified and investigated, with action taken against Mr Tarin.

“We should have done more to safeguard Raneem, by considering appropriate interventions such as a domestic violence protection order or a referral to the Sanctuary Scheme, which could have made her home a safer place.

“We are continually striving to improve our response to domestic abuse. A number of key changes have already been made since the murders of Raneem and Khaola, including increasing the number of staff specifically investigating domestic abuse offences and the creation of a new team to review investigations.

"A scrutiny panel has also been formed to review decisions and give their independent professional assessment. More training has been provided to frontline officers to help them better understand key concepts of domestic abuse.

“We recognise, however, that more needs to be done. We will continue to learn from the tragic events at the heart of this inquest. Of course, none of this will undo the devastation that the murders of Raneem and Khaola caused to their family.

“Above all, our thoughts are with them today and again I offer our apologies.”