The devastated lover of an aspiring model strangled to death by her jealous husband said today they would now be married if police had protected her.
Pregnant mother-of-three Sabeen Thandi, 37, was killed by Mohammed Badiuzzaman in July 2013 just two weeks after she reported that he had abducted, threatened and raped her.
An investigation by Newham council has uncovered a series of errors by authorities in the lead-up to her murder, and said “communication between agencies, in particular the police, may well have prevented the death”.
Her long-distance lover Majid Khan, who had been seeing Mrs Thandi for two years before her death, said she called him in Pakistan hours before her murder, saying she wanted to be with him. Mr Khan told the Standard: “We were so in love... we were planning on getting married and being with each other here in Pakistan.
“We would speak every day for hours and hours. She was so loving. I would tell her, ‘Don’t let your husband into the house, he’s a psycho’. But I didn’t know how far he could go.” Ex-security guard Badiuzzaman, 35, admitted his wife’s murder at the Old Bailey in May 2014 and was jailed for life, with a recommended minimum of 17 years.
He met her in November 2012 and moved into her house in Forest Gate. As the relationship disintegrated she got a restraining order in June 2013 banning him from her home.
After Badiuzzaman forced her to drop the order he was arrested on suspicion of threats to kill and unlawful imprisonment but later released.
Police then got a 999 call from one of her children and found her dead in her bedroom.
Nine police officers were investigated for misconduct. None have been punished but Met Police Commander Stuart Cundy said: “We could have done better.”
