Braintree district: Family response to IPCC report (From Braintree and Witham Times)

Braintree district: Family response to IPCC report

9:33am Wednesday 22nd August 2012 in News

The family of a mother and daughter who were murdered in their own home believes more could have been done to prevent their deaths.

Ken Chambers, father of Christine, said: "As a family we would again like to say thank you to all those, including friends and neighbours, who have shown us such support and kindness since the murders of Christine and Shania.

" We have also received marvellous support from the police murder investigation team led by Detective Chief Inspector O’Toole, from police Family Liaison Officers and the Victim Support Service, and we are grateful to all of them for helping us through such a traumatic time.

" We have been kept informed by the IPCC of their investigation and findings and have had opportunity to read through and discuss their report.

"We realise one evil man is responsible for taking Christine and Shania away from us, and not having them in our lives any more remains extremely difficult to bear.

"While we understand at times Christine could have been more co-operative with the police, we do feel that Essex Police could have done more to prevent the deaths; they should have taken greater steps to protect Christine; for instance we are still of the view she should have had a panic alarm installed at her home which may have allowed her to summon assistance at a crucial time after her phones had been smashed. And we think that officers dealing with ongoing incidents should have been more aware of the history and should have better identified the risks.

"The family is still devastated by the events that took place and we are thankful to the media for maintaining a respectful distance and allowing us to continue to grieve privately.

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