'Jealous' murderer admits killing Syrian ex-partner and her mother

A 21-year-old man faces a life sentence after admitting killing his Syrian ex-partner and her mother in a frenzied stabbing attack in Solihull.

Janbaz Tarin repeatedly stabbed Raneem Oudeh, whom he'd married under Islamic law and who had a two-year-old son from another relationship, and her mother Khaola Saleem, 49, on 26 August this year.

Oudeh, 22, had tried to end her relationship with Tarin since April, after discovering he had a wife and three children in Afghanistan. 

She had spoken to police about him a number of times, and previous contact between the family and West Midlands Police is currently being investigated by the Independent Office for Police Conduct.

On the day of the murder, Tarin tracked Raneem and her mother down to a shisha lounge in Birmingham. There, he was seen on CCTV monitoring the pair from a distance, before angrily confronting her about a man he had seen her with.

At the packed shisha lounge, Tarin slapped both victims in their faces and angrily snatched a mobile phone from Raneem, before he was escorted out by staff.

He drove off in a white van, making a cut-throat gesture towards the victims.

At 10.34pm, Raneem called 999 to tell police she was having trouble with her ex-partner and that he had slapped them.

She said she had a non-molestation order against him, secured a couple of weeks earlier because of Tarin's repeated harassment, and she and her mother didn't feel safe. Raneem made three more phone calls that evening asking police to come to her home and then her mother's home where she had sought refuge.

She was advised by police to call them if Tarin turned up.

In a final call, police phoned Raneem to say that officers had made an appointment to see her at 8am. While on the phone, she and her mother were repeatedly stabbed by Tarin outside the row of houses where Khaola lived. They died at the scene.

Tarin went on the run and was pictured on CCTV hours later in a chicken shop, having shaved off his beard.

A member of the public recognised Tarin from a media appeal of the manhunt and he was arrested on 30 August.

On Monday he pleaded guilty to the two murders and will be sentenced later the same day.

West Midlands Police described Tarin as a "jealous man".
Det Ch Supt Mark Payne, head of Force CID, said: "This was a pre-meditated, cowardly attack by a man with a history of violence towards women. 

"He hunted down the victims, took a weapon to the scene, he hid in waiting for them. He jumped out and then inflicted savage, unsurvivable wounds on them.

"He's now safely behind bars where he belongs."

Raneem was in the UK having fled war-torn Syria and to be reunited with her mother and stepfather, who had lived in Solihull for 16 years.

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