Man murdered ex-girlfriend months after she was fined for ‘wasting police time’
An obsessed ex-boyfriend has been found guilty of murdering his former lover in an attack that happened just five months after police fined her for wasting their time when she complained about his stalking. Unable to accept he had been rejected, Michael Lane, 27, slit 19-year-old Shana Grice’s throat on 25 August after telling a friend “she’ll pay for what she had done”. The murder marked the brutal end to a
stalking campaign that had seen Lane follow Ms Grice, subject her to heavy breathing phone calls and even sneak into her home to watch her sleeping. Yet just five months earlier, on 24 March 2016, when Ms Grice complained to Sussex Police about Lane pulling her hair and trying to grab her mobile phone, it was the teenager who ended up with a fixed penalty notice for “having caused wasteful employment of police by making a false report”. Lane had been able to show officers text messages that seemed to confirm that Ms Grice wanted to be with him, and police decided to punish her for failing to disclose that she had been in a relationship with the tyre fitter. The court heard later, on 4 August, days before her death, that Ms Grice decided against telling police of another stalking incident, telling a friend she feared police would not believe her.
Moments after the jury delivered its verdict, Lewes Crown Court in East Sussex heard a stinging indictment of the police’s handling of the case from Ms Grice’s family. In a victim impact statement that was read to the court by a lawyer, Shana’s mother Sharon Grice said: “We brought Shana up to respect authority and always respect the law. We firmly believe her murder could have been prevented if her fears had been listened to and been taken seriously by the police.” Ms Grice added that after a year of stalking and harassment by Lane, the life of her “beautiful, bright, bubbly kind-natured” daughter had “become a nightmare”. “The brutal death of our daughter has ruined our lives forever,” she added. “We have gone from being a joyful family to one which will never be able to come to terms with the sudden way she was taken from us. We have become shells of our former selves.”
Sussex Police have apologised to Shana’s family, and deputy chief constable Bernie O’Reilly said they referred themselves to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). Speaking after the verdict was delivered, Mr O’Reilly said: “When we looked at the circumstances leading to Shana’s murder, we felt
we may not have done the very best we could. Within days of her murder I personally visited Shana’s family to apologise on behalf of Sussex Police and we made a referral to the IPCC. The referral was specifically in relation to how we dealt with incidents involving Shana leading up to her murder.” An IPCC spokesman said investigators had already questioned a number of witnesses and extra interviews would now be held with police officers and staff linked to the case.
The criticism of the police emerged as judge Mr Justice Green warned Lane faces life in jail with a “very substantial minimum term”. He will be sentenced on Thursday. Claps and cheers rang out in court among Ms Grice's friends and family as Mr Lane was convicted after just over two hours of deliberation by jurors. Relatives sobbed and hugged in the public gallery, as Mr Lane, in the dock, appeared to show little emotion. He had denied the killing, and in her victim impact statement, Ms Grice’s mother condemned him for never having shown remorse. “We have had to live with his protestations of innocence for seven soul destroying months,” she said.