RIP Gracie Spinks

[WorkingItOutAsIGo]

Only 23, pursued by a stalker. Done everything right - she had a restraining order against him. She has been found murdered and the body of a man found nearby.

What can we do to get the crime of stalking taken seriously?

@SnoopyLights

You’re completely right and it infuriates me too.

It’s complete control that these monsters want. If I can’t have you then no one will. Nothing to do with passion. Nothing to do with the actions of the poor woman.

According to the Times (sorry, I don't know how to do Share tokens), a villager found a backpack of weapons, a note and Viagra close to the eventual murder scene 6 weeks ago, and took it to the police but they refused to investigate

They really don't give a fuck about women, do they?

Really doesn’t seem like it MissLucyEyelesbarrow

www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/local-news/fearsome-weapons-found-near-gracie-5552022

I can't read the Times article but this one also has information and a frankly horrifying photograph of the contents of the bag that was found, along with a comment that recovering DNA was very likely due to containing a water bottle and clothing.

I can't stand that the police might have missed a change to investigate this and protect her, if it is linked.

This is so saddening. And has just popped up on my local newspaper website under the headline "horse rider and model, 23, dies in 'murder suicide'". She was "believed to be looking after her horse when she was fatally injured". What is this? She was murdered by a stalker, not accidentally hurt!

The handful of comments are arguing about the environmental impact of the memorial balloon release and the fact the story isn't from our area. Fucking ridiculous.

RIP Gracie.

Press have named the man who did it now. Michael Sellars, who she allegedly went on one date with several months earlier.
There are too many of these stories. Shane Grice. Alice Ruggles. Molly Mclaren. Now Gracie. They all reported these men to the police prior to being murdered. It's fucking horrible. It makes you feel so helpless that this happens again and again and again.

It's so clear that these men should be treated similarly to paedophiles. They should be on a register, and they should be subject to monitoring, checks, restrictions by the police once they become the subject of a restraining order or stalking protection order.

The recent case of Sophie Walker is another example, where the police effectively saw it as a set of separate crimes rather than an overarching behaviour of stalking. There should be automatic flagging to the police if a subject of stalking calls 999 or the non emergency number with another report of an incident, so any responding officers can access the history of stalking.

Gracie was a woman murdered by a man. Like so, so many women. This is a sex based issue. The majority of people who murder women are males.

This seems to be the time to raise the pressure on the police and the legal structures in this country to take this crime more seriously. When someone with the profile of Sophie Walker cannot get support it’s crazy.

@SnoopyLights

www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/local-news/fearsome-weapons-found-near-gracie-5552022

I can't read the Times article but this one also has information and a frankly horrifying photograph of the contents of the bag that was found, along with a comment that recovering DNA was very likely due to containing a water bottle and clothing.

I can't stand that the police might have missed a change to investigate this and protect her, if it is linked.

That is so chilling. Why the hell did the police not take this seriously? My heart aches for Gracie and her family.

I'd bring in electronic tagging, though I appreciate this probably isn't currently legal. As soon as these men have been tracked at the home or workplace or other place frequented by the victim, they get arrested and hopefully not bailed.

@Hestyo

I'd bring in electronic tagging, though I appreciate this probably isn't currently legal. As soon as these men have been tracked at the home or workplace or other place frequented by the victim, they get arrested and hopefully not bailed.

In fact, a quick Google shows that government and police have been discussing doing this since 2000, so why has it still not happened?

Was looking out for a thread on this today. Utterly depressing that yet again, a woman was not taken seriously when she made her legitimate, evidence based fears known to the police. Absolutely zero lessons learnt from the countless times this has happened before.
The police and criminal justice system show us with their actions time and again how little a shit they give about women’s safety.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-57664993

Be interesting to see what the police conduct investigation concludes.