Gracie Spinks: Police let down murdered woman, say parents

The parents of a woman thought to have been killed by a former colleague say she was "let down" by police.

They said Gracie Spinks complained to Derbyshire Police about Michael Sellers stalking her before she died.

Her family spoke to the BBC ahead of a vigil on what would have been her 24th birthday.

Derbyshire Police said it was unable to comment because the case is being investigated by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

"We want justice for Gracie, don't we?" said Miss Spinks's mother, Alison Heaton.

"We feel like she was really let down by the police. She had made a complaint and they just basically didn't join up the dots."

Miss Spinks had worked as a lifeguard but was furloughed because of the pandemic so got a job at Xbite Ltd in Chesterfield.

Sellers, who is thought to have murdered her before killing himself, was her supervisor at the e-commerce company.

"He had become a nuisance at work to her and work had dealt with it," said Ms Heaton.

"He did wait at the horse field one morning before, which really spooked her, and that prompted her to ring the police."

Weeks before she died, a member of the public found a bag of weapons close to where Miss Spinks was later killed, and this was reported to police.

Miss Spinks's father, Richard Spinks, said: "If it had been flagged up between the finding of the weapons and her complaint to the police and they had put the two together, they would have warned her, this wouldn't have happened."

Her parents are also campaigning for Gracie's Law, which asks the government to give police more funding so that forces can have "advocates for victims of stalking".

Mr Spinks said: "Each individual force would have its own dedicated person that deals with stalking complaints.

"You switch your TV on and you expect another story [about women being killed], don't you? It's an awful situation and I think people need to wake up, and many have.

"We want to get the petition read in Parliament and hopefully change things for the future and save more lives."

The petition needs 100,000 signatures to be considered for debate in Parliament and it currently has more than 49,000.

Miss Spinks was last seen alive by her mother Alison Heaton on the morning of 18 June, when she left home in Chesterfield and drove five miles to Blue Lodge Farm in Duckmanton, where she kept her horse, Paddy.

The inquest opening into her death heard how two witnesses found her unconscious on the ground, next to a patch of blood.

One of the witnesses saw a man, believed to be Sellers, running away.

Paramedics attempted to resuscitate Miss Spinks but she was pronounced dead.

A post-mortem examination gave her preliminary cause of death as a stab wound to the neck, which cut through her carotid artery, jugular vein and cervical spine.

Det Con Graham Barrick said there was no evidence she had been sexually assaulted.

Derbyshire Police referred itself to the IOPC following Gracie's death.

The IOPC said Miss Spinks made contact with Derbyshire Police in February "to make an allegation of stalking and that officers spoke to her and the man whose behaviour she had reported".

In a statement, Derbyshire Police said: "We are continuing to liaise with the coroner over the deaths of Gracie Spinks and Michael Sellers and the case remains with the IOPC. For this reason, we are unable to comment further."

The vigil is being held at 18:30 BST at St Bartholomew's Church, Old Whittington, Chesterfield, where Miss Spinks is buried.

Her family have said members of the public are welcome to attend and help celebrate her life.

"She lit up the room wherever she went, everybody loved Gracie," said Mr Spinks.

"A very loving, caring person. We were very proud to have her as our daughter."

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