Man jailed for life for murdering wife and mother-in-law in frenzied knife attack
A lying killer who murdered his defenceless ex-partner and her mother weeks after being dumped by his spouse – when she found out he had a secret wife and children in Syria – has been jailed for life.
Janbaz Tarin, 21, admitted murdering Raneem Oudeh and Khaola Saleem in a frenzied knife attack outside Mrs Saleem’s home in Solihull, West Midlands, on August 27.
After the former student pleaded guilty to two counts of murder at Birmingham Crown Court, senior detectives described how jilted Tarin went to “hunt down” Ms Oudeh, who was his wife under Islamic law.
Ms Oudeh, described by family as “always smiling”, was on the phone to police when she was savagely attacked by Tarin, outside her mother’s home in Northdown Road.
When Mrs Saleem attempted to save her daughter from the onslaught, she too was fatally stabbed by callous Tarin – who fled the scene before officers arrived.
The head of West Midlands Police’s CID described the crime as “one of the most brutal and heart-rending” he had seen in 150 homicides.
It came as the family of Ms Oudeh, a mother of one, revealed Tarin “hassled” the 22-year-old into marriage after they met at Solihull College, where he enrolled after lying about his age.
Chillingly, he later told her “when I saw you, I said this is mine”.
But after being wed, Tarin turned violent towards Ms Oudeh and the couple had split “months” before the killing, according to her aunt Nour Norris.
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She said: “He used to threaten her many times ‘if you leave me, I will kill you and your family’.
“Unfortunately she only told us that at the end because she knew, she couldn’t cope with him anymore with all the violence he was giving her and she knew that the police and authority and everybody wasn’t really helping her so she felt like she could say those things.
“One day she said to me, Auntie, I feel my life’s going to end.
“I said ‘don’t say that’. That was few weeks before she was murdered.”
The split was triggered, in part, when she became aware Tarin had lied to her from the start; about being much older than he claimed, and about a secret family he had back in the Middle East.
Mrs Norris said her niece got a court injunction against him, with the help of Mrs Saleem, two weeks before the killing.
On at least one previous occasion he had broken into the house at Northdown Road to get at Ms Oudeh, she added.
She also said Tarin was “well-known” to police for his violent abuse of Ms Oudeh, in the months leading up the murder.
The 39-year-old said: “After a few months marriage to him, she decided he’s not the right man for her.”
Trapped in the marriage, Ms Oudeh kept a brave face on her relationship, hiding the abuse from relatives.
Mrs Norris said: “After she got married to him, she realised he was a good liar.”
Eventually, Mrs Saleem told her daughter “we’re going to do the right thing, go to the court, get a court order”, according to Mrs Norris.
“That’s exactly what my sister did, the right thing,” she added. “What any mother would do. She tried to protect her by doing the right thing.”
She added: “They felt very strong after they had the court order, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to save their lives.”
Ms Oudeh’s son, two-and-a-half years old, is now living with Mrs Norris.
Asked if she believed the police and authorities had failed to do enough that night to stop Tarin, and in the months beforehand to protect the victim, Mrs Norris replied: “Yes we do.”
“We do feel that and we feel there’s a lot of women out there as well probably going through the same thing, who agree with us.”
Sentencing Tarin at Birmingham Crown Court to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 32 years on Monday, the judge told him his crimes had “devastated” the victims’ family.
Mrs Justice Sue Carr said: “Janbaz Tarin, you are now 21 years old and stand convicted on your guilty pleas of the murders of your estranged wife, Raneem Oudeh and her mother, Khaola Saleem, in the early hours of Monday, August 27.
“Having stalked Raneem the evening before, you equipped yourself with a knife, followed Raneem to her mother’s address and carried out a vicious and sustained attack on both women.”
After the attack, Tarin fled in his white van and remained on the run for three days until a member of the public spotted him and tipped off police.
The couple met at Solihull College, when she first arrived from Syria.
The Independent Office of Police Conduct is investigating the circumstances surrounding the police response to the murders, after a self-referral by West Midlands Police.
