Refuge, together with Maria’s family, are calling for a public inquiry to investigate why women and children experiencing domestic violence are still not getting the protection they deserve from the police and other state agencies. Please sign our petition: http://you.38degrees.org.uk/p/maria
Marc Chivers is arrested and remanded in custody for seriously assaulting Maria.
Police install a panic alarm in Maria's home following Chivers's arrest for assault.
Essex Police disable the panic alarm in Maria's home, even though Maria is deemed to be at very high risk.
Chivers is given a 4-month jail sentence but released immediately given his time spent on remand. On his release, no conditions are placed on Chivers and no steps are taken by Essex police to provide protection for Maria.
Maria’s friend, Claire Oliver, contacts the police to express concern that Chivers may have assaulted Maria again. No action is taken in response to her call. The IPCC subsequently formally upheld Ms Oliver’s complaint against Essex Police in relation to their inaction.
Maria contacts the police, afraid for her safety. She reports that Chivers is hanging around her home and asks about a restraining order. She also reports her suspicion that Chivers had recently burgled her house.
Maria’s call to Essex Police is initially graded as grade one (immediate response) but subsequently downgraded to grade two (priority response). The call handler also fails to record the correct address for Maria, which means that the alerts attached to her address are not accessed.
Maria contacts police again, twice.
A police officer calls Maria to say they had found Chivers with her son in his car. She is very upset. They drive her son home and she tells them again that she suspects Chivers burgled her home.
Essex Police telephone Maria. Her manner on the phone raises concerns and officers suspect that Chivers might be with her, so they attend her house to check on her welfare. Maria does not let them in. The officers ask her to sign their notebook to say she does not want to proceed with the matter, even though they believe Chivers might be in the house at the time. They then close the case. This was the last time the police see her alive.
A police officer fails to attend the house to check on Maria after being instructed to do so.
An officer from the Domestic Violence Unit becomes concerned when she sees Maria’s calls about Chivers on the police log. Officers attend her home on 18th December. Chivers answers the door and tells them Maria is away. The officers take no steps against Chivers and do not search the property. Instead they leave a calling card and ask Chivers to inform Maria that they had called.
Police attend Maria’s house again, this time with explicit instructions to arrest Chivers and search the property. They search the property and find Maria's body in the downstairs bathroom. She had been strangled with a dog lead. The police arrest Chivers.
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