Teen Murdered After Being Fined for Wasting Police Time

Ex she accused of stalking now on trial for murder
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 20, 2017 2:36 AM CDT
Teen Murdered After Being Fined for Complaint About Ex
Shana Grice.   (Sussex Police)

A British teenager accused of wasting police time with a complaint about her ex-boyfriend was murdered by the same man less than six months later, prosecutors say. Shana Grice, 19, was found dead with her throat cut in her Brighton home in August last year, the Independent reports. In March, she had been charged with "having caused wasteful employment of police by making a false report" after she accused 27-year-old Michael Lane of assaulting her but failed to tell officers that they had an on-and-off relationship. A month before that report, she had complained to police that Lane was stalking her and left a note on her new boyfriend's car saying, "Shana will always cheat on you."

Lane is now on trial for the murder. The jury was told last week that the month before the killing, he received a caution from police after stealing a key and letting himself into Grice's home to watch her sleep, the BBC reports. A few days later, she told police that Lane was following her, but the incident was classed as "low risk." Prosecutors say Lane was obsessed with Grice and became murderous after she decided to go back to another ex-boyfriend. He denies killing her, though he has admitted fitting a tracking device to her car. He told the court that he found her body after entering Grice's home through the open front door, then fled in panic and went home to shower instead of calling police. (A Tennessee woman found her ex hiding under her bed.)

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