Police have arrested a man accused of stabbing a mother and daughter to death after a three-day man hunt.
Raneem Oudeh, 22, and Khaola Saleem, 49, were found dead at home in Solihull, West Midlands, in the early hours of Monday morning.
Detectives launched a murder investigation and named Miss Oudeh’s ex-boyfriend Janbaz Tarin as the main suspect.
After struggling to track him down, Crimestoppers offered a £5,000 reward for his whereabouts.
Last night West Midlands Police revealed a 21-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of stabbing the two women to death.
Tragic: Raneem Oudeh, 22, was found dead in Solihull on Monday
Ms Oudeh (left) and her mother Khaola Saleem (right) died after they were stabbed in Solihull
Officers launched a murder inquiry after the women’s bodies were found in Northdown Road in the early hours of Monday morning.
The force put out several appeals for information, and carried out raids at a number of addresses in Birmingham.
West Midlands Police said the man was detained in the Sparkhill area of Birmingham on Thursday evening in relation to the deaths of Raneem Oudeh, 22, and her mother Khaola Saleem, 49.
The pair were stabbed at Ms Saleem’s home in Northdown Road just after 12.30am on Bank Holiday Monday.
Following the incident, police and Crimestoppers had offered a £5,000 reward for information leading to the detention of shop worker Janbaz Tarin.
Detective Inspector Caroline Corfield, who is leading the investigation, said: ‘I would like to thank the community for their support over the last few days, the response to our appeals has been excellent and tonight resulted in this arrest.’
Police said the victims’ family had been updated on the development.
Yesterday a £5,000 reward was offered for information about the whereabouts of the main suspect Janbaz Tarin, 21.
Speaking at the time, police said they believed he was being protected locally.
Tarin’s van and a knife was recovered in Birmingham with a mobile phone and computer equipment have also been seized for examination.
He was arrested in nearby Sparkhill, around five miles from Solihull.
Speaking yesterday morning, Detective Chief Superintendent Mark Payne, head of West Midlands CID, said: ‘We believe he is still in the country, and still in the West Midlands.’
He would not say what information they had to confirm this but added: ‘It’s very difficult to drop off the radar. He may have found a bolthole, but we believe he is being protected by someone.
‘Those people are committing a criminal offence by harbouring him.
‘We routinely track and find people with tried and tested methods and we believe he is still in the West Midlands.’
Tarin, originally from Afghanistan, arrived in the UK on Christmas Day 2012 and was living in Britain legally.
He and Miss Oudeh, a student, had been in a relationship, but she moved out of a flat they shared days before the attack following a series of rows and into her mother’s home in Solihull.
Neighbour Sarah Hollis described victim Ms Oudeh, who had a two-year-old son, as a ‘lovely woman’.
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