Teenager was fined for reporting stalker to police five times before he murdered her

Authored by mirror.co.uk and submitted by chrisjd

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A teenager was murdered by her stalker after she reported him to the police five times in a tragic case described as 'avoidable'.

Instead of helping 19-year-old Shana Grice, Sussex Police fined her £90 for ‘wasting police time’ on one occasion.

Shana, a receptionist from Brighton, had begged police to take action against Michael Lane five times over a period of six months in 2016.

But her pleas were ignored, despite him breaking into her home, and he went on to slit her throat before trying to burn her body in August 2016.

In March that year she was fined £90 by Sussex Police for wasting their time because she did not tell officers they had been in a relationship after she reported Lane for pulling her hair and grabbing her phone.

Shana's heartbreaking death featured in Sky Crime documentary Murder in Slow Motion over the weekend.

The programme explores the deaths of young women who were killed by an ex-partner who stalked them.

When Lane first broke into Shana's home he was given a police caution.

Six weeks later he broke into her home again, walked into her bedroom and murdered her after learning she was in a new relationship.

In March 2017, Lane, then 27, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 25 years Shana's murder.

Tom Milsom from the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC), says Sussex Police didn't understand "the difference between a spat between two individuals and harassing behaviour" so Shana was "failed".

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He said: “You really need to listen to the victim and I don't think that happened to Shana,” he says. “She was let down.”

According to the Crime Survey of England and Wales a shocking one in five women has been stalked since the age of 16.

In the past 10 years 2,075 women have been murdered in the UK and 57 percent were killed by someone they knew - a majority were the victim's partner or an ex.

Forensic psychologist Kerry Daynes, who contributes to the programme, says Shana’s case shows the 'dangerous' attitudes towards female victims and it often puts off women from reporting crimes.

She told the Sun: “This is such a tragic murder and all the more so because it was avoidable.

“The case typifies why women have little faith in the police and why they often don't report incidents because they are not confident they will get the help that they need.”

The tragic murder of Sarah Everard earlier this month has highlighted the safety of women and the difficulties they can encounter when they try to report crimes.

Shana was just 18 and had started a new job at a fire alarm firm when she met Lane who was eight years older and a mechanic at the same company.

The teenager had moved into a new house with two other girls and Lane started lavishing her with attention.

A move that Kerry says 'may have felt romantic' but it was the beginning of Lane's controlling behaviour.

Shana secretly dated Lane for a few months after breaking up with her long-term boyfriend Ashley Cooke.

However she called it off when he became volatile and possessive but Lane refused to let her go.

He bombarded Shana with messages, sent her flowers for her 19th birthday, put a tracker device on her car and turned up unannounced at the home she shared with her two friends even though she had reconciled with Ashley.

He also vandalised Ashley’s car and left a note reading: “Shana will always cheat on you. Happy New Year.”

A frightened Shana called the police in February 2016 and the female call handler phoned Lane and warned him to stay away.

But undeterred Lane came back to Shana’s house with her two flatmates after an office party a month later.

When Shana fled he followed and tried to grab her mobile phone and pulled her hair and hit her while doing so.

Shana ran to Ashley’s house where she called police.

But When PC Trevor Godfrey turned up he interviewed her in front of Ashley and his parents which is a breach of guidelines.

Shana didn’t mention she had been seeing Lane but police found out when they spoke to him.

Tom said if she had been interviewed alone she may have told police he was an ex.

Lane told PC Godfrey the pair were actually in a relationship - and provided details of mobile phone messages between the couple which backed his story.

Shana was deemed a liar by police and was fined £90 for wasting police time with PC Godfrey claiming the complaint was “a smoke screen to disguise her affair.”

Kerry said police saw the incident as a 'lover's tiff' and had stereotyped Shana as a woman having a secret affair.

Shana quit her job and her friends said the fine dented her confidence which made her reluctant to report Lane's continuous stalking campaign.

In July 2016, Lane stole Shana’s back door key then crept into the house, in the middle of the night, when he thought she was sleeping but she was awake and hid under the duvet.

Shana recorded a terrifying phonecall from Lane which was played on the documentary.

He says: “I wanted to see you and I knew you wouldn’t let me in.

“I’m just not right in the head, otherwise I wouldn’t do it."

Shana bravely handed over the recording to police but Lane was let off with another caution.

The next day, Shana received heavy breathing calls from an unlisted number, which she also reported and told the police she was scared but they declared she was a 'low risk'.

Two days later Shana told police Lane was following her but instead of following up the report she was sent her a letter saying no further action would be taken and the case was closed.

On August 25, 2016 Lane bought a can of petrol and broke into Shana’s home again but this time he was armed with a knife.

He walked into her bedroom and slashed her throat before dousing her body in petrol and setting it alight.

Lane was arrested within hours but denied killing her despite CCTV evidence proving he had been at her house.

After killing her he changed his clothes immediately afterwards and bought petrol at a nearby garage.

His trainers were found in a hedgerow nearby covered in blood and police found a tracker on Shana’s car, connected to his phone.

Mr Justice Green who jailed Lane for life criticised Sussex Police saying: “Tragically, when she sought help from the police, she received none.”

“Michael Lane felt that if he continued with his obsessive stalking behaviour it was most unlikely that the police would do anything to stop him.”

Shana's family also slammed police, saying they believed her murder could have been prevented if officers had listened to her fears about Lane.

Her mum Sharon Grice said in a victim impact statement read on her behalf: "We brought Shana up to respect authority and to always respect the law.

"We firmly believe her murder could have been prevented if her fears had been listened to and taken seriously by the police."

Kerry says Lane’s escalating behaviour were red flags that should have raised alarms and the way female victims are treated needs a ‘seismic’ change involving the whole of society.

She said: “We all have to change our attitudes. We need to start addressing why we're so keen to blame women for what happens to them.”

At a subsequent enquiry PC John Milne was found guilty of gross misconduct and PC Godfrey of misconduct.

Sussex Police have apologised Shana's family.

hexjunki on March 23rd, 2021 at 09:30 UTC »

I'm a man who was sexually assaulted by a man in a London station toilet, I reported it that same night to the police and they told me I should just use another toilet and that they'd bring it up in their next meeting.

Like wtf?

I can't imagine how awful it is for women in these positions.

kazuwacky on March 23rd, 2021 at 09:08 UTC »

Jesus, the constant escalation that was ignored by police. Typecasting the poor girl as a "cheater" because she was reluctant to admit, in front of BFs parents that she was being stalked by an ex. Edit: Rereading the article, it looks like her abuser love bombed her into a secret relationship that broke her up with BF. When abuser turned violent, she broke up with him and reconciled with past BF. This fact looks to have completely coloured the police view of her, which is rediculous and seems to have led to the fine.

In July 2016, Lane stole Shana’s back door key then crept into the house, in the middle of the night, when he thought she was sleeping but she was awake and hid under the duvet.

Shana recorded a terrifying phonecall from Lane which was played on the documentary.

He says: “I wanted to see you and I knew you wouldn’t let me in.

“I’m just not right in the head, otherwise I wouldn’t do it."

Shana bravely handed over the recording to police but Lane was let off with another caution.

At this point he has put a tracker on her car, left notes on her car, followed her, turned up at a work party. She's already been fined and is still desperately trying to get help. The idea that breaking into a house and saying, on tape, that you're "not right in the head" would result in a second caution.

Honestly, if I were her family I'd think the police simply didn't care if she was killed.

superdubber on March 23rd, 2021 at 08:12 UTC »

I can't work out if it's chronic underfunding or, as the article says, just a lack of awareness/interest/care but it seems getting anything out of the Police sometimes is just fucking impossible. And then we wonder why women don't bother reporting crimes.

That said, had the Police prosecuted him I doubt he would have seen jail time so not convinced the outcome would have been any different. It seems to need an entire societal and justice system shift to make clear this behaviour is absolutely not acceptable.