Murder of Shana Grice

Shana Grice, a 19-year-old from Portslade, East Sussex, met Michael Lane in 2015 while both worked at Brighton Fire Alarms. The two formed a relationship during a break in Grice's long-term relationship with boyfriend Ashley Cooke. When Grice ended things with Lane and returned to Cooke, Lane became obsessed with her, reportedly telling a friend "She'll pay for what she's done." He subsequently stalked her, including placing a tracking device on her car.

Between February and August 2016, Grice made multiple reports to Sussex Police about Lane's behavior. On 8 February 2016 she reported stalking after receiving unwanted flowers and finding her car damaged. On 24 March 2016, after Lane grabbed her hair and snatched her phone, he was arrested but released, while Grice herself was issued a fixed penalty notice for allegedly wasting police time by not disclosing her prior relationship with Lane. On 9 July 2016, Lane used a stolen key to enter her home and watch her while she pretended to sleep; he was arrested for theft and cautioned, and told to stay away from her. The next day she received several harassing phone calls, but police told her there were no further lines of inquiry. On 12 July 2016 she reported being followed by Lane again; the case was logged as "low risk." On 4 August 2016 she saw Lane loitering outside her home but, fearing police would not believe her given her earlier fine, did not report it, though she confided in a friend.

On 25 August 2016, Lane entered Grice's home while she was alone, slit her throat, and set fire to her bedroom with her inside. Her body was discovered by Ian Cooke, her boyfriend's father. Lane was arrested the same day and initially lied about his movements before admitting he had gone to the home, claiming he found her already dead and panicked without calling for help.

At his 2017 trial at Lewes Crown Court, Lane admitted stalking Grice but denied murder. He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 25 years. The sentencing judge criticized police for stereotyping Grice and failing to recognize she could be both in a relationship with Lane and at risk from him.

A domestic homicide review found Lane had harassed 12 girls and young women between 2006 and 2016, and had been arrested (but not charged) in 2010 over an allegation he groomed a 14-year-old girl while a scout leader; this was not flagged when Grice reported him. Sussex Police apologized to Grice's parents and referred themselves to the police complaints body. Subsequent inquiries found continued failures in how stalking was investigated. Two officers involved in handling Grice's complaints, PC Jon Barry Mills and former PC Trevor Godfrey, faced misconduct proceedings in 2019; Mills resigned before his hearing and was found to have committed gross misconduct, while Godfrey was found to have committed misconduct but not gross misconduct.