Police force 'failure' over killing

Donna Wilson, 30, was stabbed at her home in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, and died in hospital from her injuries the following day. Her killer Shaun Clarke, 45, of Shakespeare Road, Burton, hanged himself in woodland after the attack of January 21 last year.

Opportunities to identify the serious threat Clarke - a murderer released on licence - presented to his victim and to carry out his arrest were repeatedly missed, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said.

Following its investigation into the deaths, it found Staffordshire Police's actions amounted to a "systemic failure".

One officer now faces a misconduct panel regarding supervisory matters, while another will receive a written warning.

At the time of the murder, Clarke was living in the community on a life licence, having served prison time for a previous murder, and was monitored by probation as a "low risk" of reoffending.

In the eight days prior to her death, Miss Wilson, a care worker from St Stephen's Court made allegations of theft and assault against him. She complained to Staffordshire Police that he had forced his way into her home, climbing a 6ft fence to reach the warden house in the sheltered housing development where she worked.

However, on January 17, Miss Wilson asked that her allegations be withdrawn for fear of their "negative impact" on her working arrangements, the IPCC said. The officer rightly told her that Clarke would nonetheless have to be arrested, but this did not happen.

Police did not initially visit the scene following the assault on January 12 and "wrongly assessed" the risk Clarke presented to Miss Wilson.

The investigating officer failed to identify who Clarke was, using too narrow search term parameters on intelligence databases, a problem compounded by a failure to update systems with Clarke's current address. Police also missed an opportunity to spot Clarke's current address, when they reviewed names on probation lists.