12 Sussex Police employees investigated over contact with murder victim and her killer

Shana Grice, 19, was stalked by her killer Michael Lane in the months before she died, the trial into her death heard.

He put a tracker device on her car and received notifications via a phone app every time it moved.

Shana's car Shana's car and below, the tracker Lane attached to the vehicle

The tracker device attached to Shana's car

It emerged during the trial that police received a complaint that Lane had pulled Miss Grice's hair and grabbed her mobile phone five months before she was killed.

No further action was taken against Lane, but Miss Grice received a fixed penalty notice for wasting police time after not disclosing she had been in a relationship with him.

On another occasion, Lane was cautioned by police after stealing her back door key and letting himself in to her room, before watching her sleeping and then leaving.

Miss Grice hid under her duvet as she heard footsteps and then a man breathing in her room last July 9. When she looked out of her window, she saw Lane walking away from her home.

Miss Grice confronted Lane about the incident in a secretly-recorded phone call played to jurors, telling him his behaviour was "just weird".

A tearful and apologetic Lane told her: "Obviously something's not right in my head and I don't know what it is but I know I need to find out or be locked up or something."

Two days before Miss Grice was killed, she met Lane at a hotel in Hove to insist their relationship was over. Lane claimed they had sex earlier that day.

The evening before Lane killed her, he filled a red petrol can with fuel at a Sainsbury's in Hove. He claimed he bought it to kill himself due to depression sparked by his grandfather's death.

But prosecutors said there were suggestions that an ignitable liquid was used to torch Miss Grice's room. One fire was set on the double bed and another on carpet at the foot of the bed.

The footprint found at the scene The footprint found at the scene

She was found dead, face down on her bed, in the smoke-filled room by Mr Cooke's father, Ian Cooke, after colleagues reported that she had failed to arrive at work.

Lane dismantled the smoke alarm in the hallway and disposed of broken pieces of it under her bed in Chrisdory Road in the Mile Oak area of Brighton.

In a statement, the IPCC said: "The IPCC is conducting an investigation into the contact between Shana Grice, Michael Lane and Sussex Police in the lead up to her death on 25 August, 2016.

"Investigators have interviewed a number of witnesses and upon completion of the ongoing murder trial will carry out additional interviews with police officers and staff identified as subjects in our investigation.

"The investigation has been assessing the circumstances surrounding all contact between Sussex Police, Shana Grice and Michael Lane in the lead-up to Ms Grice’s death.

"There are currently 12 employees of Sussex Police who have been identified as subjects in this investigation.

"The IPCC will not be naming any of these individuals."