'Honour death' police face action

Banaz made a video expressing fears her father was trying to kill her

Two Metropolitan Police officers are facing disciplinary action over their handling of the case of a woman later murdered in a so-called honour killing.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission investigated how the Met and West Midlands Police handled complaints from Banaz Mahmod before her death.

Miss Mahmod's body was found after she went missing in 2006. Her father and uncle were convicted of her murder.

The IPCC said Miss Mahmod, 20, had been "let down" by police in some instances.

In two specific incidents Miss Mahmod's case suffered from delays, poor supervision, "a lack of understanding and insensitivity", the IPCC concluded.

Six other detectives from the Met and West Midlands are to receive written warnings, and one Met constable is to receive "words of advice" over some of their dealings with the victim.

IPCC commissioner Nicola Williams said the investigation had focused on how the two forces dealt with allegations coming from Miss Mahmod, and whether more could have been done to help "a woman who was living in fear".

Banaz Mahmod was a young woman who lost her life in terrible circumstances - it is clear that the police response was at best mixed IPCC commissioner Nicola Williams

Her father and uncle ordered her murder because she was in love with a man they did not want her to marry and they believed she had shamed the family, their trial heard.

Miss Mahmod, from south London, had made several attempts to warn police that her life was in danger, even naming those she thought would kill her.

After disappearing in January last year, her body was found in Birmingham, in a suitcase buried in a garden. She had been raped and tortured before being strangled.

Mrs Williams said: "Banaz Mahmod was a young woman who lost her life in terrible circumstances."

She added: "It is clear that the police response was at best mixed."

'Worst failings'

She said in three of the incidents investigated, the IPCC found the police force involved - the Metropolitan Police Service - had dealt with it "appropriately and sensitively".

But in two other instances they found Miss Mahmod was "let down by the service she received. There were delays in investigations, poor supervision, a lack of understanding and insensitivity".

Two Met officers - a constable and an inspector - will face a disciplinary panel over the "worst failings" found which was the way officers dealt with Miss Mahmod on 31 December 2006.

The IPCC said it would not discuss the specific evidence until it had gone before the panel.

Mrs Williams also said that they had made a number of recommendations designed to improve policing practice.

These include the review of procedures for investigating sexual offences and the "reinforcing of knowledge about domestic and honour-based violence".

The other officers facing discipline are four Met and two West Midlands detectives, whom the IPCC recommends should receive written warnings, and one Met constable whom it said should receive words of advice.

Miss Mahmod had on several occasions made allegations of threats to kill her, of other threats to her and her boyfriend, and had reported "historic" physical and sexual assaults.

In June 2007 her father Mahmod Mahmod, 52, and uncle Ari Mahmod, 50, from Mitcham, south London, were both convicted of arranging her murder.

Killer Mohamad Hama, 30, of West Norwood, south London had pleaded guilty to the murder.

All three were handed life terms in prison.