ITV Honour: Caroline Goode speaks on Banaz Mahmod case

'Honour' told the story of a detective Caroline Goode (played by Keeley Hawes) who brought five killers to justice in the tragic story of Banaz Mahmod, a woman murdered as part of an "honour killing".

Banaz was an Iraqi-Kurdish woman who at 16, had an arranged marriage to a man who abused her.

After she left the abusive marriage for another man, her father and uncle ordered her death in 2006.

Keeley Hawes (left) played Caroline Goode (right)

Banaz was reported missing by her boyfriend Rahmat, who had become concerned after he was unable to contact her.

“At the outset, we viewed Banaz as a vulnerable missing person and very much hoped she would be found alive", says Caroline Goode, senior investigating officer who led the police team on the case.

Goode added: "It became obvious very quickly she wasn’t missing of her own volition.

It was also obvious that her relationship with her boyfriend Rahmat was being conducted against the will of her family so we quickly began to fear for the worst.

"There was no use of her mobile phone or her bank account, she hadn’t taken any clothes and her passport was still at the home address.”

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DCI Goode discovered that Banaz had been to the police five times to report threats to her life from members of her own family.

Goode said it felt like she was being "punched in the stomach" when she learnt Banaz had been to the police prior to her death.

Goode commented: “I felt terribly, terribly sad. It’s an awful feeling when you look through the trail of contact that Banaz had with police prior to her death and you get that sinking realisation that potentially we had missed opportunities to keep that young person alive.

There is one particular video clip where Banaz is being interviewed by a police officer and Banaz says, ‘Now that I have given you my statement, what can you do for me?’ That gets me absolutely every time.

"Because the fact is we didn’t do anything for her and she had such faith in us and such faith in the system."

Banaz was murdered by three relatives at her parents' house, under her father Mahmod Mahmod and uncle Ari Mahmod's orders.

She was found 100 miles away buried in a suitcase in a garden in Birmingham three months after she went missing.

Banaz’s father and uncle had a distorted sense of honour which led them to disapprove of her conduct. In their eyes, they felt they had to kill her to restore their family’s honour," says Goode

Goode added: "As far as her father was concerned, he had already lost some of his status in the community because a few years earlier another one of his daughters had gone into the care of social services.

"That was because the father had resented that daughter’s westernised behaviour - wanting to wear make-up and westernised clothing - and he had beaten her to try and keep her in line.

"The fact that she was in the care of Social Services led to criticism from the wider Kurdish Community because Mahmod was viewed as being unable to control his daughters.

"He was already under pressure. The uncle was a very powerful man in the community. He was comparatively wealthy compared to other Kurdish people, he owned a couple of businesses.

He couldn’t afford to be made to look stupid, so it’s about maintaining their status within the community.”

Caroline Goode retired from the Metropolitan Police in 2014 after 33 years having led over 100 murder investigations.

She still teaches police officers and other front-line workers about honour killings and violence.

She added: "Banaz’s death has been a catalyst for change within police forces.

"There has been so much training that has gone on. I’ve provided a lot of it myself.

"To try and educate officers not to make the same mistakes the Met Police and West Midlands Police made in Banaz’s case."