Five officers have been served with “management action” by the police watchdog over missed opportunities to prevent the deaths of a mother and daughter in the West Midlands.
The Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said West Midlands Police (WMP) let chances to “take positive action” slip for Khaola Saleem, 49, and her daughter Raneem Oudeh, 22, in the months before they were stabbed to death by Ms Oudeh’s ex-partner on August 27 2018.
Following the conclusion of a three-week inquest into their deaths on Friday, the watchdog said they had served nine officers with misconduct notices and found a case to answer for five, who all received management action.
The other four were found to have no case to answer although it was agreed one should receive additional training.
The circumstances of this case are shocking and profoundly disturbing, and I would like to express my sympathy to the family of Raneem and Khaola for their loss— IOPC regional director Derrick Campbell
Janbaz Tarin, who was 21 at the time of the attack on Northdown Road, Solihull, was jailed for life in December 2018 with a minimum term of 32 years.
The IOPC said that between July 2017 and August 2018, WMP responded to 10 domestic abuse incidents linked to the case.
The watchdog concluded that officers failed to make proper intelligence checks when completing domestic abuse risk assessments, and did not arrest Tarin despite him being suspected of two assaults on Ms Oudeh.
On the night they died, Ms Oudeh called WMP four times reporting that she and her mother had been assaulted by Tarin at a shisha bar, and registering concerns for her safety.
The IOPC upheld a complaint from Ms Oudeh’s family that WMP had failed to exercise their powers to protect or assist her in the months before her murder.
Derrick Campbell, regional director at the watchdog, described the case as “profoundly disturbing”.
He said: “The circumstances of this case are shocking and profoundly disturbing, and I would like to express my sympathy to the family of Raneem and Khaola for their loss.
“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 or level of violence.”
Mr Campbell added: “It was apparent there were police resourcing issues and a lack of clear communication about their response over the next few hours before the fatal attack took place outside Raneem’s mother’s home.
“Our review of the full history of incidents and police involvement with Raneem shows that there were missed opportunities to take action and affect the risk prior to her death.”
The evidence also indicated that WMP could have provided further support and advice to Ms Oudeh around the available options, including consideration of a Domestic Violence Protection Order (DVPO) or Domestic Violence Protection Notice (DVPN).
Along with investigations into the officer misconduct cases, the IOPC made “learning recommendations” concerning domestic abuse risk assessments for WMP, and advised the force to consider further training.
This followed the inquest into the deaths of Ms Saleem and Ms Oudeh which concluded that multiple police failures to investigate and safeguard them “materially contributed” to their deaths.
The jury also concluded that officers who dealt with some of the incidents had insufficient training and understanding of force domestic abuse policies.
