The Kiss Of Death

The Koslings and others of the Progressive stripe ignore the fact of honor killings. Therefore, as any good apparatchik knows, they don't exist. Then, lo and behold, this eeevil little thing called reality rears its ugly head (again): Victim Reported Fears To Police.

It began with a kiss on a south London street. For Banaz Mahmod, 20, and the secret lover she called "my prince, my shining one", it was a symbol of their love and the freedom they longed for.

Police are failing to protect young women at risk of being murdered by their families in so-called "honour" killings, despite a high-profile prevention scheme set up four years ago, senior officers have told the Guardian. They say a raft of measures aimed at saving lives have been shelved, delayed or ignored by Scotland Yard. Among them were plans to train frontline staff in how to spot vulnerable women and a system to ensure potential victims of "honour"-based violence were risk-assessed and properly dealt with.

The admissions came as the Metropolitan police were criticised for their handling of the case of Banaz Mahmod, a young Kurdish woman whose father and uncle were yesterday convicted of her murder. One detective, who asked not to be named, said that if the Met prevention scheme had been in place Ms Mahmod might be alive today.

He said: "We started to learn lessons and then stopped learning them as a result of political correctness.

Instead of being considerate and understanding of other cultures, the coppers were profiling, you see.

And then Banaz died and that should never have happened."

A lack of formal training for officers had also resulted in a "police station lottery", where women like Ms Mahmod were in danger of being ignored or not given adequate protection.

Another officer said: "If it were young white girls complaining that their lives were at risk, there would be an outcry."

In the Mahmod case, the Old Bailey heard that she had repeatedly told police her family was trying to kill her.

Banaz Mahmod, 20, told officers on at least four occasions between December 4 2005 and January 23 2006, about threats made. She wrote a letter, naming those she thought were plotting against her.

On New Year's Eve that year, she told them her father had tried to kill her but the officer did not take her claims seriously.

Her body was found months later on April 28 2006, crammed into a suitcase and buried in a pit, the bootlace used to strangle her still around her neck.

Although her father, uncle and two others have been convicted of her murder, it's a safe bet that the reality-based community will blame exclusively . . . .

Read it all.