Stalker believed to have killed co-worker triggered ‘red flags’ – former boss

A boss of the man who is believed to have killed Gracie Spinks has told an inquest into her death that there were “so many red flags” in his behaviour towards her.

Michael Sellers was investigated and dismissed from his role at e-commerce firm, xbite, after being reported for stalking by Ms Spinks who had refused to pursue a romantic relationship with him in December 2020.

Sellers, 35, is believed to have then fatally stabbed Ms Spinks, 23, at Blue Lodge Farm in Duckmanton, Derbyshire, on June 18 2021 before taking his own life 150 metres away later that day.

On Wednesday, an inquest into her death heard that after being rejected, Sellers watched Ms Spinks on company CCTV and asked colleagues to “spy” on her, but “did not believe he had done anything wrong” when questioned by his managers following Ms Spinks’ complaint.

The inquest also heard that the company only “informally” dealt with complaints over Sellers’ conduct with other women, with Sellers only given “words of advice” by police in relation to Ms Spinks’ concerns.

Lee Bingham, who was operations manager at xbite and who investigated Ms Spinks’ claims, said Sellers “lacked insight” into the impact of his behaviour.

Giving evidence at Chesterfield Coroners’ Court, he said: “He showed no remorse and he did not believe he had done anything wrong with his relationship with Gracie.

“I pointed out that she had said she wanted to be left alone a number of times and he did not believe he had done anything wrong.

“He did not recognise that he was doing anything wrong and as I investigated this, there were so many red flags, Gracie saying no, being asked to be left alone, him waiting in a lay-by, just so many red flags.

“There were just red flags all over the place.”

Ms Spinks met Sellers when she began working at xbite in April 2020 and met up with him several times outside of work.

Giving evidence, Corey Martin, a friend and colleague of Ms Spinks, said he had “never met a more beautiful soul” and described her as “funny, happy, talkative and friendly”.

In December 2020, Ms Spinks deemed she was too busy to pursue a relationship and, according to Mr Martin, she was “not feeling a connection” with Sellers but tried to break things off in a “friendly” way.

But Mr Martin said that Sellers was “totally obsessed” with Ms Spinks and eventually asked him to report back on what she was doing and who she was speaking to, and disclosed that he would watch her on CCTV.

Then, on January 4 2021, Ms Spinks saw him waiting in a lay-by close to Blue Lodge Farm, where her horse was stabled, and reported him to the company and, later, the police.

The company investigation, led by Mr Bingham and the company’s HR manager, Tracie Otter, found that Sellers had harassed Ms Spinks and abused his power in relation to Mr Martin, which saw him dismissed for gross misconduct on January 27 that year.

But Mr Bingham said that prior to the incident with Ms Spinks, he was aware of past issues concerning Sellers’ behaviour towards two other women, the second taking place in March 2020 which saw Sellers follow a female staff member to the car park and question her about contact with another man.

That led Mr Bingham to advise the company’s HR team to issue a warning or launch disciplinary action “at the very least”, but Mr Bingham told the court that he did not believe this was ever taken forward.

Giving her evidence, Mrs Otter said that she was aware of issues between Sellers and at least four other women, which concerned him messaging them outside of work and researching and contacting their friends, but believed Sellers was only ever spoken to informally.

She said: “I believe he was spoken to quite a few times.

“I believe it was informal conversations at that point.

“I believe that people just thought that he just liked people and because of the person that he was, he could not articulate that very well.

“I know that there were conversations that had happened, I just think that people did not believe that there was anything serious going on.”

In a statement, Mrs Otter said Sellers would “latch on to someone who gave him attention” and described him as quiet, shy and “very introverted”.

When asked by Narita Bahra KC, representing Ms Spinks’ family, why no other women were advised to report their concerns to the police, Mrs Otter replied: “I don’t think anybody thought that something like this would ever happen.

“I don’t think people thought that anything that serious had actually happened.”

The inquest continues.