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The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is calling on the Government to address a gap in the law which meant there were no restrictions placed on a man in the UK prior to murdering his ex-partner, despite him having already been convicted of a murder abroad.

The IPCC investigation, the findings of which have been published today, has concluded that an apparent gap in the law and serious failures by Essex Police, meant that Maria Stubbings was not afforded the protection she deserved before being murdered by her ex-partner Marc Chivers in December 2008.

Maria Stubbings had begun a relationship with Marc Chivers and between April and December 2008, there was a history of contact with Essex Police about incidents involving them. In July that year, Chivers assaulted Maria. An appropriate risk assessment was carried out at this time by Essex Police through Multi Agency Public Protection Authority (MAPPA) arrangements correctly describing Chivers as a ‘very high risk perpetrator’. On 13 October 2008 Chivers was found guilty of common assault and received a four-month sentence of imprisonment, but as he had already served time on remand he was released immediately.

After he was charged with her assault, police informed Maria in July that Chivers had previously spent 15 years in prison in Germany after a 1993 conviction for the murder of a girlfriend there, before being deported to the UK. Maria explained that Chivers had informed her that he had served time for murder, but had told her it had been for the murder of a man who had raped his girlfriend at the time.

At 11.44pm on Thursday 11 December 2008 Maria Stubbings called Essex Police on the non emergency telephone number to report a burglary at her home in Chelmsford. She gave details that her ex-partner, Marc Chivers had been in the house, that they were no longer in a relationship and he did not have permission to enter the house; she said she was scared of him, that he had been convicted of an earlier assault on her and she had changed the locks.

At some point between 16 and 19 December 2008, Chivers murdered Maria. He was sentenced to life imprisonment at Chelmsford Crown Court in December last year.

The IPCC independently investigated the circumstances of Maria’s death. The investigation discovered that, while UK authorities were aware of Chivers’ deportation from Germany in 1993, and the reason behind it, it was not legally possible to place on him the normal restrictions those serving life sentences in the UK are subject to. Had Chivers committed the first murder offence in the UK he would have been on life licence following his release, and on his conviction for assault on Maria in July 2008 he could have been recalled to prison.

IPCC Commissioner Rachel Cerfontyne said: “In my opinion, Maria’s death was both predictable and preventable, but she was badly let down by a serious gap in the law. Marc Chivers returned to the UK a convicted murderer, and yet authorities here were unable to apply appropriate restrictions. Any woman who entered a relationship would have been in grave danger. Tragically for Maria Stubbings and her family, Maria paid the ultimate price.“

The IPCC investigation also found that a combination of factors including human error, missed opportunities and individual failures in performance or duty by Essex Police officers and staff led to a serious failure to provide an adequate response to a vulnerable woman.

When Maria called police to report Chivers had been in her house without permission on 11 December 2008, the initial call taker failed to record the correct address for Maria, which meant that any alerts or flags attached to Maria’s address were not accessed. No further checks were undertaken, and the call was wrongly treated as a report of a burglary rather than a domestic violence matter. Had all of the information been gathered then, Maria should have been assessed as a highly vulnerable victim of domestic violence, and received the immediate response required. The IPCC has concluded that the call handler should face action for poor performance. It has also recommended that Essex Police examine and review their policies and procedures with regard to call handling, call grading and call taker identification of domestic violence incidents. It should be reiterated to call takers the importance of identifying risk factors to enable further questions to be asked and an appropriate risk assessment to be made. In particular, any information that could relate to domestic abuse or a previous history between individuals should trigger appropriate background checks to be made to equip attending officers with all known information that would assist in their response.

The next day a Police Community Support Officer found Maria’s 15-year-old son during school-time in a car at a park with Marc Chivers. On returning her son to Maria’s house, police officers witnessed Maria’s shock and distress, and her say to her son ‘you know what he’s done’. The following day Maria informed police that she did not want to pursue the burglary report, but the allegation later came to the attention of a detective inspector who was rightly concerned.

Commissioner Rachel Cerfontyne said: “An important issue here is that women fleeing domestic violence have many reasons why they may withdraw statements, and it is important that police do not draw a conclusion from the woman’s actions, but rather proceed accordingly on the basis of the evidence.”

On 17 December a police visit to Maria’s home to check on her welfare did not take place because the female officer said she could not find any other officer to accompany her. The IPCC investigation concluded that, having assessed the risk to herself as too great to visit alone, not attending Maria’s house that night was a failure in duty to properly consider the immediate risk to a highly vulnerable woman and her son. This officer therefore has a case to answer for misconduct.

At around 7 pm on 18 December two police officers, including the officer who failed to attend the night before, went to Maria’s house and were invited in by Marc Chivers. He said Maria was away staying with friends and he was looking after the household. Despite Maria’s car being on the drive, the officers accepted Chivers story and left. The IPCC concluded that action for poor performance should also be considered against these officers.

Rachel Cerfontyne added: “I am unable to make sense of the ease with which two officers were fobbed off by Marc Chivers at the house when they turned up on 18 December. They were far too easily persuaded by the account of a man they knew to be a convicted murderer that Maria had gone to stay with friends – far more probing questions of Chivers should have been asked.”

On hearing this information the next morning, the detective inspector was not satisfied and sent officers back to the house. While searching the ground floor, a detective constable opened a door in the hallway and, pulling away what appeared to be a pile of coats, discovered Maria's body. Her son was not at the house and safe elsewhere. A post-mortem established the cause of death as strangulation.

Notes for editors:

Further information is provided in a Commissioner’s Report also published today and available at:

www.ipcc.gov.uk/maria_stubbings_commissioner_s_report.pdf