Gracie Spinks’ death is “saving lives” says father of murdered Chesterfield girl - as police respond to coroner's report

Richard’s comments come after Home Secretary James Cleverly and Derbyshire Constabulary Chief Constable Rachel Swann published replies to Chesterfield coroner Matthew Kewley's prevention of future deaths report.

In it, the coroner outlined a number of shocking failings made by officers investigating Gracie’s murder by obsessed stalker Michael Sellers in June 2021.

They include officers’ lack of understanding of stalking policy, their failure to complete stalking risk assessments, gaps in the force’s records management system which make risk harder to identify, absence of notes and detail in crime records and failure to investigate dangerous weapons found by the community.

In her response CC Swann has outlined a comprehensive account of actions being taken to ensure stalking victims are better protected in future.

They include a new “stalking policy”, more rigorous risk assessments, upgrades to crime recording systems and new emphasis on the importance of note-taking and investigating found weapons.

Addressing Home Secretary James Cleverly in his report Mr Kewley called on the Government to act on a lack of stalking advocates in police forces across the country, labelling it a “postcode lottery”.

In his response Mr Cleverly said the Government was “exploring” where its intervention could improve support for stalking victims, highlighting the Victims and Prisoners Bill currently at the Lords committee stage in parliament.

Parliament has suggested a number of new clauses to the Victims and Prisoners Bill, including a proposal that, should the bill be passed, the Secretary of State must make an annual assessment of the “adequacy” of the number of stalking advocates in each region of England and Wales.

Speaking to Derbyshire Times about the Government and police responses, Gracie’s father Richard said: “It’s exactly what we want, they’ve thought about it and stood up and done something about it.

"We’re not finished yet though and will keep pushing for these changes.

"A lot is happening and I’m really quite enthused by it all, it’s very positive and I think this year we can really make some changes.”

Speaking about the Victims and Prisoners Bill, Richard said his and Gracie’s mother Alison Ward’s ultimate goal was still to see stalking advocates in post across all police forces.

He said: "Since the start of this year I’ve felt like we can really achieve it and that’s a great comfort and a great boost.

"We’ll never get over the grieving side of it and what it’s done to our family and our lives but it has helped a great deal to know that what happened to Gracie is saving lives and making a difference and making changes.

"It’s given us more impetus to continue with the campaign.”

Speaking about Derbyshire Chief Constable Rachel Swann’s response, he said: “Victims will really benefit from the changes that have been implemented and will receive the protection they need and deserve.

"The recommendations made by the coroner have been adopted by Derbyshire Constabulary and it’s clear that the chief constable is delivering on the promise to make large-scale organisational improvements.

“The winds of change have finally begun to blow through policing. Gracie in life and death has helped to create a better world.”

Gracie was stabbed to death on June 18, 2021 at the Dunckanton stables where she kept her horse Paddy by former work colleague Sellers.

During her inquest in November last year jurors heard officers failed to update risk assessments on police crime recording systems during Gracie’s initial complaint against Sellers, while speaking with him and after finding the bag of weapons he left near to the stables which was found weeks before she was killed.

Her case was closed by one sergeant who spent “20 minutes” reviewing it after an unrecorded “verbal” conversation with a police constable who investigated Gracie’s initial complaints against the 35-year-old warehouse manager.

Coroner Michael Kewley was told during Gracie’s inquest that Derbyshire Police had already created roles for three stalking advocates and a stalking coordinator.

However, addressing the coroner’s concerns in his prevention of future deaths report Chief Constable Rchael Swann said their policy was currently being “refreshed” to emphasise the need for reassessments during an investigation, which must be be fully documented on crime reports.

In his report Mr Kewley noted that an Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation into the five officers involved in Gracie’s case found locations were not individually tagged to incidents on the force’s “Niche” records management system - missing opportunities to link suspects with locations and failing to identify risk.

Addressing that in her response, CC Swann said following a system upgrade the system was now able to link multiple locations.

During the inquest the jury heard how none of the officers who investigated Gracie’s initial complaint or the Sellers’ bag of weapons made any notes, and no video footage such as that recording the words of warning given to Sellers by one officer was retained.

While crime reports entered by investigating officers contained almost no details, and thus provided no useful information for anyone reading them.

Responding to Mr Kewley’s comments, CC Swann said since the inquest contemporaneous note taking and record keeping had formed part of “key messaging” to senior management, front line staff and supervisors and was now incorporated into updated training material.

Workshops running in January and February would highlight “the importance of note taking from both an evidential and risk management perspective”.

Jurors at Gracie's inquest heard Sellers’ bag of sinister weapons was classed by another sergeant as “lost property” with no investigation.

In a similar failing over two years later a member of the public reporting a knife found in a Chesterfield park was simply told to “destroy” the weapon.

Addressing this, the chief constable said “more improvement” was needed in this area and “divisional senior management teams” were “reinforcing expectations”.

She concluded by adding that a “Gold Group” chaired by the deputy chief constable would remain in place to track progress against Mr Kewley's recommendations.