The dad of a North Derbyshire woman who was killed by her stalker wants 'more training nationally'
Richard Spinks' daughter Gracie was killed in 2021
The dad of a North Derbyshire woman - who was killed by her stalker - insists 'training still needs to improve nationally' when it comes to the handling of stalking reports.
23-year-old Gracie Spinks was killed by Sheffield man Michael Sellers near Chesterfield in 2021 - a few months after she'd reported him to the police.
Derbyshire Police have since admitted multiple failings over their investigation into Gracie's complaint against her stalker - & Gracie's dad Richard - believes things are improving there:
"We've completed four training videos for Derbyshire Police, which we hope will be rolled out across all the police forces for their training of current officers and new officers as they're recruited
"It's a positive step to help make young girls and women feel safer in reporting a case of stalking.
"All reports need to be investigated. They should all be treated as high risk to begin with.
"Stalking is still happening, clearly.
"It's not going to suddenly stop overnight, but we've got to keep chipping away at this and try to make a difference in the way stalking cases are investigated by the police."
Richard's been speaking to us after the release of new figures - which show that more women across Yorkshire & the Humber (5.1%) were stalked in 2023 than anywhere else in the country.