Solihull domestic abuse victim 'feared social services would take baby away'

Raneem Oudeh (left) and her mother Khaola Saleem died outside Ms Saleem's home in Solihull in 2018

A woman killed by her ex-partner feared social services would "take her baby away" if she kept reporting him to police, her aunt has told an inquest.

Raneem Oudeh, 22, and her mother Khaola Saleem, 49, were murdered in Solihull, West Midlands, in August 2018.

Nour Norris, said their killer Janbaz Tarin was "very controlling" and "quite obsessive" of her niece Ms Oudeh.

Tarin was jailed for at least 32 years in December 2018 after admitting murdering the pair.

Giving evidence to an inquest, Ms Norris described how he had stalked her niece after their relationship broke down and even carved her name into his arm with a razor.

Senior coroner Louise Hunt told jurors at Birmingham and Solihull Coroner's Court they would also hear evidence of West Midlands Police's response to several phone calls Ms Oudeh made to the force about her abusive relationship before her death.

Police response delayed

They would go through calls she made between April and August 2018 to understand how police and other agencies responded, she added.

The coroner's court heard Ms Oudeh had applied for a non-molestation order, but on the night of 26 August, Tarin, then aged 21, followed her and her mother to a restaurant where he "slapped" Ms Oudeh and then followed them as they left.

Ms Hunt told the 11-member inquest jury: "The police were called - their response, you'll hear, was delayed due to a firearms incident."

The women were stabbed to death outside Mrs Saleem's home just after midnight.

The inquest heard although police were called before Ms Oudeh (right) and her mother were killed, they were delayed due to a firearms incident

Ms Norris told the inquest Ms Oudeh joined her mother and family in the UK in 2014 after fleeing the war in Syria.

She first met Tarin after enrolling at Solihull College but this had led to him "stalking her, hassling her," she said.

The aunt said Ms Oudeh was feeling "very vulnerable" in 2016, when the breakdown of another relationship had left her a "single mum at the age of 20".

Tarin gradually convinced her to rekindle their relationship, Ms Norris said, and they had an Islamic marriage in April 2017.

But shortly afterwards, the jury heard Ms Oudeh told her aunt that as they signed the nuptial paperwork he had whispered: "in our culture, we don't have divorce, now you're my wife, the day you leave, I will kill you."

Another wife

Afterwards, "He [Tarin] became very controlling and became quite obsessive, that she was his belonging," Ms Norris said.

The marriage started to break down after Tarin travelled to Afghanistan, where it emerged he had another wife and children.

After Ms Oudeh told him their relationship was over he "would sleep in the car outside her house for days" the inquest heard.

On one occasion, Tarin sent Ms Norris an image on Facebook of his arm showing Raneem's name carved into it with a razor.

She claimed her niece's repeated calls to police led to little action, with visits from social workers leaving her "scared" they would remove her child.

"They'll say to her 'you're wasting our time, you need to deal with him yourself, kick him out - you can't call us all the time. Ask him to move out," Ms Norris said.

The inquest continues.

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