Murder victim Shana Grice’s partner fears their rekindled relationship was trigger for brutal killing by crazed stalker
THE grieving boyfriend of murdered Shana Grice has revealed he fears rekindling their romance is the reason she was killed.
Ashley Cooke thinks that his relationship with Shana triggered her savage slaying by the man she rejected for him, Michael Lane.
His revelations come as the IPCC investigates claims police could have prevented the 19-year-old's murder if they had listened to the couple.
Shana made repeated calls to cops over fears she was being followed by Michael Lane, 27, up to a month before she was killed - but it was deemed "low risk", the jury was told.
The obsessed stalker was found guilty at Lewes Crown Court of slipping into her home last August and slitting her throat before torching her room after she had rekindled her romance with ex-boyfriend Ashley Cooke.
Heartbroken Ashley told the : “The whole time we were apart, all I wanted was Shana back. I couldn’t even look at another girl.
“But every day I ask myself if she’d still be here if we hadn’t got back together and it kills me.
“Michael couldn’t stand the fact she’d chosen me over him.
He could see how much we loved each other. I think that’s what pushed him over the edge.
Ashley
"He could see we worked well together as a couple, he could see how much we loved each other. I think that’s what pushed him over the edge.
“It would have been so hard not to take her back but I’d have done it if I thought it would have saved her. How could I have known he’d go this far?”
Police received a number of complaints about Lane's behaviour towards Miss Grice, but on one occasion she ended up with a fixed penalty notice for wasting police time.
Cops said she had "caused wasteful employment of police by making a false report" when she reported Lane for pulling her hair and grabbing her phone in March last year, and no further action was taken against him.
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It was one of a number of contacts Miss Grice had with police before her death, the court was told.
A two-week trial heard that Lane refused to accept their break-up and decided no-one else could be with her, telling a friend: "She'll pay for what she's done."
There were claps and cheers in court when the jury returned its verdict after just over two hours of deliberation.
On July 9, Lane was cautioned by police and told to stay away from Miss Grice after he stole a back door key from her home Portslade, East Sussex, and let himself in, before watching her sleeping and leaving, the court heard.
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."
The following day, Miss Grice reported to police receiving around seven calls from a withheld number, including one with heavy breathing, which she believed was related to the incident the day before.
Miss Grice was told that there were no further lines of inquiry and the case would be left on file.
Then on July 12, just over a month before she was killed, Miss Grice reported to police being followed by Lane, who placed a tracker device on her car.
Jurors heard police treated the incident as "low risk", but that the investigating officer would be made aware.
The court heard Lane discovered Miss Grice's body slumped against her bed at the bungalow she shared with friends but instead of calling 999 he went to check his lottery ticket.
Lane told jurors he went into shock and "didn't know what to do".
After finding her body, Lane said he went to a McColl's shop to get a lottery ticket checked.
His defence counsel, Russell Flint, asked him: "Why do that after seeing your former girlfriend slumped against her bed seemingly dead?"
Lane said: "Because I didn't want what I saw to be true."
Prosecutor Philip Bennetts QC said Lane became "obsessed" with Miss Grice after forming a relationship with her in 2015 while they both worked at Brighton Fire Alarms.
He told jurors: "During their relationship, he stalked her. He put a tracker on her car and followed her movements. That obsession with her translated into killing her. He would not allow anyone else to be with her."
Lane said he came across Miss Grice's dead body after deciding to pop round to find out why she had not left for work on August 25 last year.
He told jurors he found the front door open and went in, adding: "That's when I saw her slumped against the bed. She wasn't moving. I saw blood on the bed and blood on the floor.
"She was in her dressing gown. I thought she was dead. I didn't know what to do."
Asked why he did not call an ambulance, Lane said: "Because I was just in shock.";
He said he saw no signs of fire and denied torching the room.
And he claimed he had bought petrol earlier because he wanted to commit suicide after slumping into a depression triggered by the death of his grandfather.
Lane said he left Miss Grice's property and returned home but did not tell any of his family about his discovery.
He said: "I didn't know what to do and I didn't want to get the blame for it."
After showering, he said he went to get his lottery ticket checked, then later noticed blood on his white Lonsdale trainers.
"At this point sirens were going off, so I hid them along the road," he said.
Lane said he also got rid of a T-shirt after "panicking" amid the wail of sirens.
Later the same day, he said, he went to the dentist and then went to work before being arrested.
He admitted, when asked by Mr Russell Flint, telling a number of lies in police interviews.
Lane denied murder.
Sussex Police will now face questions after it emerged that officers were called at least four times about Lane in the months before the murder.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said it is carrying out an inquiry into the contact between Lane, Miss Grice and the Sussex force.
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