Jess Phillips warns women's domestic abuse calls to police 'ignored' after Solihull murder inquest
ITV News Central's Lucy Kapasi reports
Jess Phillips has urged the government to enforce that every single domestic abuse incident will receive a police response - following the inquest into the murder of a mother and daughter in Solihull.
The Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence and Safeguarding and Birmingham MP has warned that women are being ignored by the police "today and every day" when they call to report domestic abuse.
It comes as an inquest heard last week that failures by West Midlands Police contributed to the deaths of Raneem Oudeh and her mother who were murdered by the daughter's abusive husband in 2018.
Asking an urgent question in the House of Commons, Ms Phillips said: "Since this case in 2018, far from improving, domestic abuse incidents have risen and prosecutions have fallen.
"This is not merely a historic case.
"Today and every day women w
ill call the police and no-one will come."
Ms Phillips asked: "As her government has done with burglary, will the government commit that every single domestic abuse incident will receive a police response?
"What will she do to monitor that?
"Can I ask the minister why this man was not being properly monitored or managed in the community, as is the case in thousands of other violent perpetrators?
"We are not managing and monitoring even the worst repeat offenders of this crime currently. Why not?"
Responding, Home Office minister Sarah Dines said tackling domestic abuse is an "absolute priority" for the Government.
She said: "This case is tragic but we have to work together to try and make sure we have as few similar cases as possible.
"I don’t want to see a single case continuing. One more death is one death too many.”
She added: "Tackling perpetrators of domestic abuse is an absolute priority for this government and for me.
"That is why in the tackling abuse plan we set out a strategy for pursuing those who have caused these harms – more knowledge, more intelligence and more training.
"With this plan, we have committed £75 million for work with perpetrators, including continuing to build on our previous investment for perpetrator interventions."
Conservative MP for Solihull Julian Knight said: "When I visited in the aftermath of the murders, the family raised concerns with me personally about policing resources in Solihull … we owe it to all victims of crime that Solihull gets its fair share."
Lid Dem Christine Jardine (Edinburgh West) spoke of the need for “better policing” and called on the minister to consider “mandatory training”.
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.
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.
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.
What happened to Raneem Oudeh and Khaola Saleem?
Raneem Oudeh, 22, and her mother, Khaola Saleem, were murdered by Janbaz Tarin in Solihull in 2018.
It came after Ms Oudeh was subjected to months of abuse by Tarin, who was 21 when he committed the double murder.
The two were married under Islamic law, and their relationship began to fall apart when she found out he had another wife in Afghanistan, as well as children.
On 26 August 2018, Ms Oudeh was spending a night at a Birmingham Shisha lounge alongside her mother, when the pair were accosted by Tarin.
After a public argument, he snatched his wife's phone and slapped both women, before being escorted off the premises.
Earlier in the month, Tarin had been subjected to non-molestation order after he smashed Ms Oudeh's phone on 10 August 2018.
Following the events in the Shisha lounge, Oudeh called the police - and was on the phone to a 999 handler when Tarin attacked her.
Ms Saleem was also fatally stabbed when she tried to intervene.
After a three-week manhunt, Tarin was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 32 years at Birmingham Crown Court.
The head of West Midlands Police's CID described the crime at the time as "one of the most brutal and heart-rending" he had seen in 150 homicides.