Murder of Tulay Goren

In December 2009, some ten years after her disappearance, her father Mehmet Goren was convicted of her murder. She was killed in a so-called honour killing because of her relationship with an older man, from a different branch of the Islamic faith. Mehmet Goren was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 22 years. Tulay's body has never been found.

In October 2009, Mehmet Goren and his two brothers stood trial at The Old Bailey for the murder of Tulay and conspiracy to murder Halil Unal.

Mehmet Goren was found guilty of murder on 17 December 2009 and sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum tariff of 22 years. He was acquitted of conspiring to murder Halil Unal. Ali and Cuma Goren were acquitted on both charges.

In 2007, the case was reinvestigated, as in the intervening period successful prosecutions had been brought in the "honour" killings of Heshu Yones and Banaz Mahmod, there was now a better understanding of honour-based violence, and criminal evidence reforms had changed the admissibility of hearsay evidence. On 25 November 2008, Mehmet Goren and his two brothers Ali and Cuma were arrested on suspicion of murder and conspiracy to murder. They were charged two days later.

Tulay Goren (March 1983 – 7 January 1999) was a 15-year-old Kurdish schoolgirl from Woodford Green, North London who went missing in January 1999.

The couple continued living together until 6 January 1999, when Tulay's father — claiming he objected to her sharing a home with Unal's male flatmate — forced her to return to the family home. He told Unal that she'd remain at home until he'd found somewhere suitable for the two of them to live.

Having already murdered his daughter, on 20 January 1999, Mehmet Goren arranged to meet Unal to discuss his and Tulay's future. Having lured him to the meeting, he attacked Unal with an axe. In the intervening period between Tulay's disappearance and the later murder trial, Mehmet Goren was convicted of grievous bodily harm for the axe attack on Unal and jailed for five years.

After initially corroborating her husband's story and maintaining that Tulay had run away, Hanim Goren was arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice and murder. On 23 March 1999, during a police interview, she admitted that she'd lied and that, although she hadn't witnessed her daughter's death, she believed that Mehmet had killed her. She noted that two kitchen knives, bin bags, and a washing line went missing after Tulay disappeared, that their garden had been dug up, and that her husband had visible injuries to his hands.

Hanim Goren testified for the prosecution, relaying the events of 6 and 7 January 1999 and her suspicions after she returned home and Tulay was missing. She spoke of missing items, such as bin bags and knives, and stains on the clothing Mehmet had been wearing the day Tulay disappeared. She claimed that the garden had been dug up and some of Tulay's belongings had been destroyed, and said her husband stated "From now on she's gone. I disown her. She is not my child any more. From now on we do not have four children any more. We will only have three children."

During the school holidays of 1998, Tulay took a summer job at a clothing factory in Hackney, London where she met and then embarked on a relationship with Halil Unal. Unal, also a Turkish Kurd, was 15 years older than Tulay and from the Sunni branch of Islam; her family didn't approve, and Tulay was ordered to end the relationship.

After her summer job at the factory ended the couple maintained daily telephone contact; on 10 December 1998, Mehmet Goren went to Unal's place of work, assaulted him and warned him to stop "bothering" his daughter. Unal reported the assault but didn't press charges. On the same day, Tulay's family took her to the local police station and reported Unal for "pestering" her.

On 14 December 1998, Tulay ran away from home and went to live with Unal. After initially reporting her missing and reporting Unal for "unlawful sexual intercourse", the family changed track, agreed that the pair should get married, and a ceremony was scheduled for 21 December at Hackney Register Office. Despite Mehmet's attempts to bribe the registrar, the ceremony did not go ahead as Tulay, aged 15, was underage. A new date was set for 8 March 1999, when Tulay would've reached her 16th birthday.

Tulay was born in Turkey in March 1983; she was one of four children born to Mehmet and Hanim Goren. Her family, of the Alevi branch of Islam, are Turkish Kurds who originate from Elbistan, Kahramanmaraş and who arrived in the United Kingdom as illegal immigrants in the mid-nineties, later claiming asylum.