Inquest Criticises Police Handling Of Murder

14 October 2014, 16:17 | Updated: 14 October 2014, 16:29

The Inquest into the death of Chelmsford woman Maria Stubbings has concluded today - and the Coroner's heavily critised the way the investigation was handled by Essex Police.

50 year-old stubbings (pictured) was strangled to death by her ex-partner Marc Chivers in December 2008.

At his trial, Chivers was jailed for life.

Today, the inquest into Maria's death concluded with damning criticism of the handling by Essex Police into the investigation into her murder.

At the time, the force were criticised for giving her protection after Mr Chivers was given a 16-week sentence for assaulting her.

Just a few days before Maria was killed she called police saying Chivers had burgled her home - but a week later - they found her body at her home.

Witnesses at the inquest found Essex Police was "incompetent in it's supervision with the steps & measures" it took to arrest Marc Chivers in the days before her death.

The Coroner has said the Police need to improve training for it's officers in Domestic Abuse and create a better Safety plan & risk assessment to improve etfectiveness of sharing information & connecting investigations.

The Coroner will now write to the Chief Constable of Essex Police and the Commissioner for updates on completion of targets and will make sure the Home Secretary is aware - along with the police watchdog HMIC and the Independent Police Complains Commission - the IPCC.

However, the Coroner was also troubled some witnesses hadn't reflected adequately on the events of Maria's death or how things could've been done differently.

She said family had suffered appalling losses in ghastly circumstances. They endured the ordeal of the inquest with utmost dignity.

She will write a report to Central Government on how criminals with convictions abroad are managed when they enter UK as Chivers had murder conviction in Germany - something Maria only found out after Mr Chiver's assault conviction.