Shana Grice: Police officer insists murdered woman ‘wasted’ his time and defends decision to fine her

A former police officer has defended the decision to formally warn and fine a teenager for wasting police time weeks before she was murdered by her ex-boyfriend.

Shana Grice, 19, reported Michael Lane to police five times in six months, but was fined £90 for wasting police time before she was killed later that year.

Trevor Godfrey, who retired from Sussex Police in 2017 after 29 years, told a misconduct panel that issuing Shana Grice with a fixed penalty notice after she complained about being harassed by Lane was the “lenient option”.

Lane slit Grice’s throat before trying to burn her body at her Brighton home in August 2016. He was jailed for life for murder and imprisoned for a minimum of 25 years.

He pursued Grice by fitting a tracker to her car, stole a house key to sneak into her room while she slept and loitered outside her home. It later emerged 13 other women had reported Lane to police for stalking.

Grice was fined for wasting officers’ time after it emerged she initially failed to disclose the pair had previously been in a relationship.

The case was closed before her appeals for help were properly investigated.

A report commissioned after the teenager died found stalking and harassment offences were not being properly investigated by Sussex Police.

Mr Godfrey is the subject of a misconduct hearing after being accused of failing to adequately investigate allegations of harassment and stalking, as well as failing to comply with Sussex Police policies involving domestic abuse.

He told a hearing in Lewes on Monday that it was “a bit of a bombshell” when Lane told him, after being arrested in March 2016 on suspicion of a minor assault against Grice, that the pair had been in a sexual relationship for several months.

The ex-police officer said messages between the two also revealed the reason he was in an alleyway next to her home in February 2016, after previously being warned by police to stay away from her, was because he was summoned there by Grice.

The hearing was told Mr Godfrey later informed Grice, during a phone call lasting less than a minute and a half, that her evidence of being harassed by Lane was discredited.

Mr Godfrey told the hearing: “Absolutely, she did waste my time. I arrested someone as a result of her evidence on a false allegation. She had committed a criminal offence.”

He said his colleague took the decision to give Grice a £90 fine.

“His decision, which I don’t disagree with, was that she should not be able to get away with making false statements,” he said.

James Berry, presenting the case against Mr Godfrey, accused him of leaving Grice with the “clear impression” that she was wasting police time and had committed a criminal offence.

Mr Godfrey told the hearing how his only involvement with Grice was when police were called in March 2016 after Lane pulled Grice’s hair and attempted to snatch her mobile phone.

No further action was taken against Lane, but Grice was issued with a £90 fixed penalty notice for failing to disclose she had been in a relationship with the older man, and for “having caused wasteful employment of police by making a false report”.

A judge later said Sussex Police “jumped to conclusions” and “stereotyped” Grice for not thinking a woman in a relationship could not also be abused by that partner. Sussex Police has since introduced a plan to improve its response to stalking and harassment but Grice’s family have said the changes were “too little, too late”.

Her family, who attended the misconduct hearing, said the murder could have been prevented if officers had taken their daughter’s complaints seriously.

Police officers can lose access to their pensions if misconduct allegations are proven. The misconduct hearing is due to resume on Tuesday.