Gracie Spinks’ obsessed ex-colleague was deemed a “low risk” by police when they reported him for stalking her months before “he stabbed her to death as part of a murder-suicide”, an inquest has heard

A model believed to have been killed by her “obsessed” ex-colleague reported him to police months before she was stabbed – with officers deeming him a “low risk”, an investigation has found.

Gracie Spinks, 23, was found dead in a field in the picturesque village of Duckmanton, Derbyshire on June 18, 2021.

The keen rider suffered ten stab wounds in a brutal attack believed to have been carried out by 35-year-old ‘madman’ Michael Sellers.

Sellers, who had harassed several colleagues in front of Ms. Spinks, is said to have subsequently killed himself. His body was found about 500 feet from Ms. Spinks, along with a note that he “couldn’t deal with all her lies.”

It was revealed today that Ms Spinks reported the seller to Derbyshire Police in February 2021 after becoming increasingly concerned about his behavior.

Gracie Spinks, 23, was found dead in a field in the picturesque village of Duckmanton, Derbyshire on June 18, 2021.

The keen rider suffered ten stab wounds in a brutal attack believed to have been carried out by 35-year-old ‘madman’ Michael Sellers.

Michael Sellers, 35, is believed to have killed Ms Spinks before taking his own life

The 23-year-old told officers that Sellers continued his unwanted advances after she refused to go out with him in December 2020. Sellers was also seen waiting at a rest stop near where her horse was stabbed in January of that year.

PC Sarah Parker, who initially investigated the case, told Chesterfield Coroner’s Court that Sellers had only received “advice” as Ms Spinks did not support a prosecution.

However, she did not request information about previous incidents of salespeople having unwanted contact with other women at the workplace where he met Ms Spinks, as she believed it did not constitute a “proportionate investigation”.

She said: “He was not in our systems, nothing had been reported to us previously, so my risk assessment was that he was low risk.”

“It never went beyond that.”

The investigation previously heard that Ms Spinks reported sellers to her employer, e-commerce company xbite, in January 2021 and called police on 101 on February 4, 2021, after refusing the previous December to enter into a romantic relationship with him.

In the conference call read to the jury on Thursday, Ms Spinks said: “As soon as I canceled he got weirder and weirder.”

Ms Spinks described Sellers as “a complete weirdo” and that he “could kidnap someone”, telling the operator that he had been fired from his job as a warehouse manager after she reported him to the company.

Ms Spinks’ body was discovered at 8.13am on June 18, 2021 by a woman who called 999

Salespeople watched Ms. Spinks on the company’s CCTV and asked colleagues to “spy” on her, the investigation previously heard

Pictured: Flowers laid at the spot where Ms Spinks was found injured and later died

She said she feared what would happen if he was successful in his appeal against the dismissal, but she didn’t want Sellers to be arrested, but rather to have “something on the record.”

PC Parker was assigned to the case the next day after two different police officers assessed the 101 call and concluded there was a “real and imminent risk to (Mrs Spinks’) safety”.

In a report dated February 18, PC Parker said: “He (seller) should at least be given some advice and (I) have asked (Mrs Spinks) to think about it.”

“She decided she wanted to receive advice, but decided she would not support any prosecution.”

“I saw Sellers today. He seemed to believe he was having a relationship with Ms Spinks. I told him that was not the case and told him not to contact her again.’

In a later statement, PC Parker said Sellers “seemed nervous but accepted what I said and he agreed he would not contact her”.

PC Parker told the court she had not completed and had never seen a key risk assessment form known as a 490, despite Derbyshire Police telling all officers months earlier that one should be submitted in all stalking cases.

She also said she had received no training from police on stalking cases and agreed with Narita Bahra KC, who is representing Ms Spinks’ family, that she was “basically on her own” in the matter .

Gracie Spinks refused to enter into a romantic relationship with Sellers in December 2020

No recording was made of her conversation with Ms. Spinks, and although the conversation with Sellers was recorded on her bodycam, this was not saved and was automatically deleted a month later.

Asked whether she should have recorded more information on her risk assessment, PC Parker replied: “I accept that my crime report updates are not as complete as they should be.”

During her investigation, she spoke with Lee Bingham, xbite’s operations manager, who told her that he knew that sellers had made inappropriate contact with two other women.

The investigation previously found that Sellers had harassed eight women before Ms. Spinks, at least four of whom had raised Sellers’ behavior with xbite.

Asked by coroner Matthew Kewley why she had not investigated previous complaints, PC Parker said: “Nothing was disclosed that made me think I needed to report further offences. “I still assessed the risk as low.

“I wish I had asked for it now that I know what happened, but at the time I didn’t think it was a proportionate request based on the information I had received.”

PC Parker said that in hindsight she agreed that Sellers’ behavior was “fixed” and that she would have both upgraded his risk level and “certainly” interviewed him with caution.

The investigation continues.