The Stalking and Murder of Shana Grice

Her pleas to the police for help went unheeded and paved the way for her obsessed ex-boyfriend to kill her

Shana Grice was all alone in her home on August 25, 2016. On that day, her ex-boyfriend, 27-year-old Michael Lane let himself in, slashed her throat, and set fire to her bedroom. He then left to go to work as usual. Grice was only 19 years old when she died.

At the time of her death, she had already complained five times to the Sussex Police (United Kingdom) about stalking and harassment from Lane after she had broken up with him.

How did Lane end up murdering Grice even after she made several complaints to the police and why wasn’t she protected?

Here is the story of a case that forced the police in the U.K to make changes to their protocols and take incidents of stalking more seriously.

The relationship

Grice grew up near Brighton in Sussex. She was the only child of her parents, and was described as being “lively and vivacious.”

In secondary school (high school), she started dating Ashley Cooke. The relationship between the couple was serious.

At 18, Grice got her first real job as a receptionist at the Brighton Fire Alarms company. She was very excited about the job as it would afford her enough money to save for a wedding with her boyfriend, Cooke. However, before that could happen, she met Lane.

Lane was a mechanic at the same company where Grice worked and he introduced himself to her. There was an immediate attraction between the two and they started a secret relationship. However, if Grice knew about Lane’s past, she would have been hesitant to date him.

Before Lane met Grice, he had already been arrested in 2010. Several women and young girls had submitted complaints about him over a period of 10 years. He was accused of being “very controlling” in a relationship. He would also send explicit text messages and pictures of himself to women. He would stalk some of the women, loiter outside their homes, and subject them to harassment. He was even accused of assaulting one woman.

The stalking and murder

It wasn’t long before Grice decided to break up with Lane and go back to her old boyfriend for good. Lane did not accept the breakup and told a friend that “she’ll pay for what she’s done.” He became depressed, obsessed and started stalking her.

Lane installed a tracking device on her car and would hide outside the home that she shared with two roommates. He would send her flowers and even targeted her boyfriend, Cooke, by leaving a note on his car saying “Shana will always cheat on you.”

When Grice complained to the police, Lane was simply given a verbal warning.

The stalking became worse when Lane assaulted Grice one day. He approached her outside her home, grabbed her phone, and chased her around, yanking her hair in the process. Lane was arrested for the assault but was quickly released when the police questioned him. He told the police that he had a sexual relationship with Grice and showed them texts indicating that the relationship might be consensual. The police seemed to take Lane’s side saying,

She (Grice) would be signing her texts to Lane with five kisses. This is not harassment.

Then a month before the murder, Lane stole a key and snuck into Grice’s bedroom to watch her sleep. Grice heard his footsteps and hid under the duvet pretending to be asleep. She heard his breathing and also heard him say,

I wanted to see you and I knew you wouldn’t let me in. I’m just not right in the head, otherwise, I wouldn’t do it.

Again, Grice complained to the police, but Lane was arrested for theft instead of stalking and released shortly after with a warning.

In the next few days, Lane would make anonymous phone calls to Grice and loiter around her home. Grice complained two more times to the police but they minimized the situation as being low risk.

On August 25, 2016, Lane waited until Grice’s roommates had stepped out and she was all alone before breaking into her home and murdering her. He also disabled the smoke detector before setting fire to her room.

Grice’s body was discovered by her boyfriend’s father.

Conclusion

Lane was arrested by the police on the same day of the murder. He claimed that he went to Grice’s home but did not murder her. However, he was found guilty in court and sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in prison.

Following Grice’s murder, a police watchdog group led a two-year investigation into the way the Sussex Police handled Grice’s stalking complaints. At least 13 officers were investigated for improperly handling the case and three officers had to face disciplinary action. One officer defended himself saying that Grice had admitted to having an affair with Lane and there was no history of violence in their relationship.

It is possible that Grice did have an on-and-off relationship with Lane but that was not an excuse for the police to disregard the stalking incidents.

In the end, the Sussex Police apologized for not taking the case seriously and insisted that they would bolster their officer training and responses to stalking incidents.

Sources: The Cut, Crime Investigation, BBC News, Wikipedia, The Daily Mail

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