IPCC Report Finds 'Failings' In Essex Police

The police watchdog has found that officers in Essex took "inadequate action" to arrest a man who went on to murder his ex-partner and daughter.

50-year-old David Oakes shot Christine Chambers, 38, and Shania, two, at their home in Braintree in June 2011.

Oakes, of Steeple, near Maldon, was convicted at Chelmsford Crown Court and sentenced to a whole-life term.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission found "failings" in the force's contact with the family.

It emerged during Oakes' trial that police had attended either his or Miss Chambers' address at least six times in the two years leading up to the murders.

The IPCC report said: "There was a failure by police to recognise any pattern or connection between the events being reported, and, in particular, there was a failure to identify or act upon the evident escalation in the number of Ms Chambers' calls to the police during the two months prior to the murders - at a time when officers had been told her relationship with David Oakes had ended.

"There was little focus by police on Mr Oakes himself and inadequate action taken to arrest him at the earliest opportunity, when reports were made of him breaching a non-molestation order.

"Despite consistent warnings to Essex Police, specialist domestic abuse investigation teams were poorly resourced, and there remained a substantial backlog in inputting domestic violence forms on the force intelligence system."

The family of Miss Chambers, responding to the IPCC's findings, said they felt more could have been done by police.

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