On the night that Raneem Oudeh died she rang the police five times fearing for her life at the hands of her estranged husband Janbaz Tarin - but they did not act.
The 21-year-old had abused her since they married in April 2017, and she had tried to end the relationship in December, but following a campaign of abuse that night he was there again - accosting her at a local shisha bar in Solihull and assaulting her. Terrified, she did what we’re all told to do - trust the police. So she left with her mother Khaola Saleem and she phoned 999. Again and again over a two hour period on August 27 2018.
“Each time she called they actually kept lowering the risk because he hadn’t attacked her yet. So basically, she went from high risk to medium risk and to lower risk,” explains her aunt Nour Norris, 42.
“So by the fourth time, realising they’re not coming, she tried to tell them: ‘If I go home, he will kill me. He attacks me.’ She explained exactly what he would do to her and they still told her off in an authoritative voice. ‘Go home. Close the door. If he comes, call 999.’”
Raneem Oudeh and her mother Khoula Saleem were murdered in August 2018 (Nour Norris)
Nour Norris is tirelessly campaigning to give her sister and niece a voice - and prevent domestic violence murders (Nour Norris)So, mum-of-one Raneem, 22, did return to mother Khoula’s house in Solihull, West Mids, but she didn’t make it inside. She was on the phone to 999 and as she walked to the front door, her mother just ahead of her, he jumped out and leapt at her with a knife.
'My daughter's life is worth 10 years less than other murder victims'
“He attacked her while she was on the phone. Her last words were ‘Are you going to arrest him by the morning?’’ says Nour, a counsellor psychotherapist from Solihull. “He stabbed her multiple times. He did horrific things to her body, trying to make her suffer before she died.”
Nour’s sister Khaola Saleem, 49, heard her daughter’s cries as she got to the door. “She ran back to fight him with her bare hands. He slit her throat too.”
Nour Norris lost both her relatives that day in Solihull in August 2018, but it didn’t have to be this way. Raneem, who has a young son from a previous relationship, had rung West Midlands Police 13 times in the months before her death due to the onslaught of abuse and death threats from controlling Tarin, 21.
Due to crimes like this being allowed to happen after years of violence against women, the Mirror’s Justice For Our Daughters campaign is calling for domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms to ensure that emergency calls from victims. This is to ensure that emergency calls from victims are responded to with the appropriate urgency and expertise. Labour has now said that in government they will introduce ‘Raneem’s Law’ which will mandate this.
Additionally, in Raneem’s case, despite also having secured a non-molestation order, the police had no record of it on their system and therefore did not take the breach seriously enough. Therefore the new law in her name will also provide new early intervention measures to transform the policing response to domestic abuse to stop women who report abuse being failed in this way.
Raneem Oudeh rang the police multiple times (Nours Norris)
At the 2022 inquest into Raneem and Khoala’s death the coroner said that mistakes by West Midlands Police “materially contributed” (Nour Norris)
Raneem was seriously let down and in the months before her death many red flags were raised, and ignored. “The neighbours heard screaming and crying multiple times and they called the police, but they always came late. Once she was screaming with her baby and he was beating her. The police came 40 minutes later, the neighbour actually chased him with a stick themselves that they had to take matters into their own hands,” says Nour.
Tarin was jailed for a minimum of 32 years for the double murder in 2018, but Nour doesn’t believe it should have got to this point. “It’s terrifying as a woman to know that, being in this country, you are not safe because if anything happens no-one will protect you. My sister was the heart of the family, she’s the oldest sister so she was like a mother to me. Raneem, as well, she’s very close to us because she was raised in my mum’s house, she was my baby.”
At the 2022 inquest into Raneem and Khoala’s death, the coroner said that mistakes by West Midlands Police “materially contributed” to their deaths. Assistant Chief Constable Andy Hill said at the time: “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.”
Although the Tory government has made some steps to tackle violence against women such as making coercive control illegal in 2015, more drastically needs to be done. Labour will also mandate that police forces respond to reports at the earliest opportunity and use the protective tools available to them, with strict new time-limits for assessing the suitability of civil orders like Domestic Violence Prevention Orders (DPVOs), and a dedicated officer in every force to oversee the issuing, monitoring and enforcement of civil orders in VAWG cases.
This transformative programme is part of the party’s mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade. Yvette Cooper MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, says: “Missed opportunities cost lives and far too many have already been lost. We cannot stand by while more women, like Raneem and Khaola, are so badly failed by the system charged with keeping them safe.
'Our lovely daughter kept diary of life goals - soon her killer will be freed'
“Labour will deliver a step change in tackling violence against women and girls, overhauling the early policing response to these terrible crimes that devastate lives and corrode the very fabric of our society. Enough is enough. We cannot stand by as every generation faces the same threats of abuse and violence as the last. That’s why we have set out an unprecedented mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade.”
The Mirror also seeks to fight this issue head on, and our Justice For Our Daughters campaign is also calling for harsher sentencing for those that abuse people to the point they take their own lives and tougher sentences for domestic killers, as well as domestic abuse specialists in 999 call centres.
Although the proposals won’t bring her loved ones back, Nour says, “Through this law, the legacy of Raneem and my sister will continue on. She was never heard or seen or noticed when she was alive. And this law announced today will bring her voice back to life, and her voice will save other women through Raneem’s Law.”
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