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'Crimes of honour' probe into killings

James Ducker
6/12/2004

SCOTLAND Yard detectives are re-examining more than 100 murders in England and Wales that they suspect could be so-called "honour killings".

It is understood that a number are in Greater Manchester and Lancashire.

Suicides among young Asian women are three times the UK average and police are examining whether certain deaths may have involved family intimidation.

Most honour crimes are said to involve women deemed to have brought "shame" on their family or community and can involve false imprisonment, men and women being forced into unwanted marriages, or, in extreme cases, murders being committed.

Detectives are ploughing through murder files going back 10 years.

They have also started looking at coroners' verdicts on suicides to see if the deaths could have been the result of intimidation from family members and are also looking at cases of missing young women.

The move comes as the Crown Prosecution Service was today looking at the issue of honour crimes at a conference in London.

The conference was due to explore why the suicide rate of Asian women aged between 16 and 24 is nearly three times higher than the national average, and double the national average for women aged between 25 and 35.

Last month, two men from Oldham were jailed for more than 34 years after a man was strangled in a so-called "honour killing" after fleeing with his lover who was betrothed to another man.

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