[2025] EWHC 2114 (KB)

An account of the murder of Banaz Mahmod is set out in the Court of Appeal judgment in the case of R v Dana Amin [2014] EWCA Crim 1924 in some detail at [3]-[24]. The appellant in that case, Mr Dana Mohammed Amin, was convicted on 5 December 2013 in the Crown Court at Southwark of the common law offences of perverting the course of justice and preventing a public burial, having been involved in the disposal of Ms Mahmod’s body. He was given leave to appeal against conviction on a single ground and renewed his application for leave to appeal against sentence. The appeal against conviction was dismissed, and the renewed application for leave to appeal against sentence was refused.

In Amin at [3], the Court of Appeal provided a useful brief summary of the overall case (in this excerpt, the claimant is referred to as “Ari Mahmod Babakir Aga” and as “Ari” and identified as an uncle of Banaz Mahmod):

“3.

On 28 April 2006, the body of 20-year-old Banaz Mahmod, an Iraqi Kurd, was found buried in a suitcase in the back garden of a house at 86 Alexandra Road in Birmingham. A bootlace had been used as a ligature. She was identified from her dental records. She had gone missing from her home address on 24 January 2006. Her father Mahmod Babakir Mahmod, and her uncle Ari Mahmod Babakir Aga (‘Ari’), were subsequently convicted of her murder on 11 June 2007, the motive being (to use the highly inappropriate expression that still has currency for murders of this kind) an ‘honour killing’ because they did not approve of her relationship with a man by the name of Rahmat Sulemani. A close friend of Ari, Mohammed Hama, pleaded guilty to the murder. Another relative, Mohammed Ali (‘Ali’), had been convicted of the murder in 2010 after being extradited from Iraq.”

On 31 October 2012, the defendant broadcast a documentary, as part of its ITV Exposure series, entitled Banaz: An Honour Killing (“the Documentary”). The Documentary dealt with Banaz Mahmod’s life and death, the failings by the police to deal with threats to her life from her family which she brought to their attention (including providing the police, before her death, with a list of male family members who posed a threat to her, which included the claimant), the ultimately successful police investigation into her murder, which was led by DCI Caroline Goode of the Metropolitan Police, and the subsequent criminal trials of the various men involved in her murder, including the trial of her father and of the claimant, her uncle. The Documentary was made available for online streaming on ITV Hub for a period of thirty days beginning on 31 October 2012.

On 28 and 29 September 2020, the defendant broadcast on ITV1 a two-part drama entitled Honour (“the Drama”), dramatizing the police investigation into the murder of Banaz Mahmod, focusing on the role of DCI Goode, who is played in Honour by the actor Keeley Hawes. Although the story is dramatized, many real names are used, including those of Banaz Mahmod, members of her family, and those convicted for their various roles in her murder and the concealment of her body, including the claimant. The Drama has remained accessible on ITV Hub/ITVX since it was first broadcast. Since 1 July 2024, it has also been available for streaming on Netflix, and since 29 September 2024 it has been available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

The Documentary was broadcast again on ITV1 on 29 September 2020 to coincide with the broadcast of the Drama. It was also broadcast on ITV Border Scotland on 30 September 2020 and was made available for streaming on ITV Hub from 29 September 2020 for a further period of thirty days.