Man Killed Ex & Children Before Suicide

The bodies of Joy Small, 24, Aubarr Aziz, three, and Chanara Aziz, two, were found at their house on Jersey Road in Leicester last February

It was after police found a note in a birdwatching hut at Watermead Country Park written by her former partner Aram Aziz, 32, before he hanged himself.

The note said: ``So i began by killing Joy and then killing the children by Aubarr and then Chanara and finally myself.''

Police went to the property where they found the bodies of the two children in the sitting room underneath a duvet. Ms Small's body was found in a bedroom also underneath a duvet last February.

OPPORTUNITIES MISSED

An inquest into the deaths today at Leicester Town Hall heard how an independent review had been carried out into the agencies involved with the family.

Opportunities were missed but nothing could have prevented a father from killing his former partner and their two children before taking his own life, an inquest heard.

A serious case review found some 11 agencies, including the police and social services, had been involved with the family since 2003 over incidents relating to domestic abuse.

POLICE WATCHDOG INVOLVEMENT

The court heard how 52 recommendations had been made into good practice following a serious case review into agencies, including the police and social services, who had been in contact with the family since 2003.

However the court heard Ms Small had not contacted the police regarding any incidents involving Aziz since November 2010.
Agencies believed Ms Small had separated from Aziz, an Iraqi, who the court heard suffered from anger management issues and who they believed to be a risk to the family after a number of incidents including him threatening to kill her or himself if he saw her with another man.

The coroner said today: ``There is nothing to suggest Ms Small would have engaged with the police or told them anything different to social services with whom she was still involved.

``She remained in contact with social services and had every opportunity to let the agencies know.''

She added that although the causes of death for Ms Small and the two children were unascertained, she said the bruising around the lips and mouth were not delivered with her consent.

The court heard the injuries were similar to those suffered by someone who had been suffocated.

Following the inquest today, an independent review was published into the contact Leicestershire Police had with family.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission said the force had contact with the family on at least eight occasions between 2006 and 2010.

The independent investigation focused on police handling of four of those incidents in 2010.

While the investigation found no failings amounting to misconduct, it did identify learning for some individual officers, the report said.
Following the investigation a detective constable has received management action from the force after it was identified that the officer had not adhered to policy in relation to a domestic abuse incident.

Amerdeep Somal, IPCC Commissioner, said: ``This was a truly tragic case and my deep sympathies go again to the Ms Small's family and friends at this difficult time. Some appropriate steps were taken by police to help Joy Small at different times. This included their proactive actions to install an alarm at her address. However some incidents could have been handled and recorded better, and I am confident the force has responded to our findings seriously.''