Police failed to protect innocent couple executed in gangland revenge attack, damning watchdog report reveals

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Joan and John Stirland had fled from Nottingham to a seaside bungalow in Trusthorpe, Lincolnshire, after a crime baron put a contract out on them.

But it was seven months before Nottinghamshire Police told their counterparts over the county border that the couple had moved to the area and Lincolnshire Police were never made fully aware of the danger the Stirlands faced.

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Joan and John Stirland: Despite co-operating with police and fleeing Nottingham, the couple were still gunned down by gang members

Mrs Stirland, 51, a nurse, phoned a Nottinghamshire officer on the day of the murder to report a prowler in her garden the night before.

But it took Nottinghamshire Police three hours to alert the Lincolnshire force.

When an officer was eventually sent to the Stirlands' home at 9.24pm he found Mrs Stirland and her 55-year-old husband dead.

It is believed they were shot around 2pm.

Yesterday both forces were criticised in an official report released by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

It concluded: "The protection provided to Mr and Mrs Stirland by Nottinghamshire Police was below an acceptable level.

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The Stirlands' son Michael O'Brien (left) was jailed for life for the murder of Marvyn Bradshaw (right)

"They did not receive any professional advice on witness protection and their care was left to untrained officers."

The IPCC said the Nottinghamshire force was found to have "organisationally failed" and communication between the two forces was poor.

Crime baron Colin Gunn and two of his gang were found guilty in 2006 of conspiring to murder the Stirlands in revenge for the murder of Marvyn Bradshaw, who was shot dead in 2003 by Mrs Stirland's son from a previous marriage, Michael O'Brien.

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The Stirlands' Trusthorpe seaside bungalow as it is searched by police

Police inspect the remains of the gangland murderers' burnt-out car

Mr and Mrs Stirland fled their suburban home after a gunman on a motorbike shot through their window in September 2003.

They refused an offer of witness protection because Mrs Stirland would not give a full statement against her son, who was later convicted of Bradshaw's murder.

They moved to a council house in Goole, Yorkshire, with police help, then to Trusthorpe but only told police later.

Gunn tracked them down and they were murdered on August 8, 2004.

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John Russell and Michael McNee: Convicted by majority for plotting to kill innocent couple John and Joan Stirland

The IPCC upheld five of seven complaints made by the Stirlands' family.

They found:

• After the shooting incident at their Nottingham home, Mr and Mrs Stirland were given neither protection nor help by Nottingham police. • That incident was "not properly investigated, despite rumours circulating about who was responsible".

• Nottinghamshire Police's failure to share intelligence with Lincolnshire Police about the threat to the Stirlands was "unacceptable".

• The response to Mrs Stirland's call about the prowler was "delayed and unsatisfactory".

However, the report said the murders would "in all probability" not have been prevented had officers acted differently.

It found seven Nottinghamshire officers had been in breach of regulations relating to performance of duties but stressed their failings had not amounted to "serious misconduct".