Man suspected of killing Gracie Spinks ‘deemed low risk by police over stalking’

The man believed to have fatally stabbed Gracie Spinks was deemed low risk by police when she reported him for stalking months earlier, her inquest has heard.

Ms Spinks, 23, reported Michael Sellers to Derbyshire Police in February 2021 after continued unwanted attention and an incident where he was seen waiting in a lay-by near where her horse was stabled in January that year.

Pc Sarah Parker, who initially investigated the case, told Chesterfield Coroner’s Court that Sellers was only given “words of advice” as Ms Spinks did not support a prosecution, four months before the 35-year-old is believed to have killed Ms Spinks and then taken his own life.

But she did not request information concerning previous incidents of Sellers making unwanted contact with other women at the workplace where he met Ms Spinks, as she did not feel it was “a proportionate enquiry”.

He was not on our systems, nothing had been reported to us before, so my risk assessment was that he was low risk

She said: “He was not on our systems, nothing had been reported to us before, so my risk assessment was that he was low risk.

“It never went beyond that.”

Ms Spinks was stabbed 10 times as she tended her horse at Blue Lodge Farm in Duckmanton, Derbyshire, on June 18 2021.

Sellers’ body was found 150 metres away later that morning.

She had reported him to their employer, e-commerce firm xbite, in January 2021 and called police on 101 on February 4 2021, after declining to pursue a romantic relationship with him the previous December.

In the call, played to the jury on Thursday, Ms Spinks said: “As soon as I called it off he was getting weirder and weirder.”

Ms Spinks described Sellers as “being a complete weirdo” and that he “could kidnap someone”, telling the call operator that he was dismissed from his job as a warehouse supervisor after she reported him to the company.

She said she feared what would happen if he was successful with an appeal against the dismissal but that she did not want Sellers arrested, instead wanting “something to be on file”.

Pc Parker was assigned to the case the next day after two separate police sergeants had assessed the 101 call and concluded there was a “real and immediate risk to (Ms Spinks’) safety”.

In a report on February 18, Pc Parker said: “He (Sellers) should at least get some words of advice and (I) asked (Ms Spinks) to think about it.

“She decided she wanted words of advice given but decided she did not support any kind of prosecution.

“I have seen Sellers today. He seemed to believe he was in a relationship with Ms Spinks. I told him this is not the case and told him not to contact her again.”

In a later statement, Pc Parker said Sellers “seemed nervous but accepted what I was saying and he agreed that he would not contact her”.

Pc Parker told the court that she did not fill in and had never seen a key risk assessment form, known as a 490, despite Derbyshire Police telling all officers months earlier that one should be filed in all stalking cases.

She also said she received no training from the force on stalking cases, agreeing with Narita Bahra KC, representing Ms Spinks’ family, that she was “effectively left to her own devices” on the subject.

No recording was made of her conversation with Ms Spinks, and while the conversation with Sellers was recorded on her bodycam, this was not saved and was automatically deleted a month later.

When asked if she should have recorded more information related to her risk assessment, Pc Parker replied: “I do accept that my updates on the crime report are not as full as they should be.”

During her inquiries, she spoke to Lee Bingham, the operations manager at xbite, who informed her that he was aware of Sellers making inappropriate contact with two further women.

Nothing had been disclosed that made me think I need to report more offences. I still considered it to be low risk

The inquest has previously heard that Sellers had harassed eight women before Ms Spinks, at least four of whom had raised Sellers’ conduct with xbite.

When asked by the coroner, Matthew Kewley, why she did not investigate previous complaints, Pc Parker said: “Nothing had been disclosed that made me think I need to report more offences. I still considered it to be low risk.

“I wish now, knowing what has happened, I had requested that but at the time, based on the information I had been given, I did not think it was a proportionate enquiry.”

Pc Parker said that in hindsight, she agreed that Sellers’ behaviour was “fixated” and that she would have both upgraded his risk level and would “certainly” have interviewed him under caution.

The inquest continues.