Gracie Spinks inquest: Killer 'harassed multiple other female colleagues'

Gracie Spinks, 23, is thought to have been killed by a former colleague

A man who killed a former colleague he was "obsessed" with had previously behaved inappropriately towards at least eight other female colleagues, an inquest has heard.

Gracie Spinks, who was 23, died in Duckmanton in Derbyshire after being repeatedly stabbed by Michael Sellers.

Sellers is then thought to have killed himself shortly after.

They had previously worked together at e-commerce firm Xbite, but Sellers lost his job after she complained about him.

Det Con Denise Sandall, who investigated Miss Spinks's murder, said she had identified seven other Xbite employees who received unwanted attention from Sellers, and one woman who worked with him at a previous workplace.

Some of the women had left their jobs because of Sellers, Det Con Sandall said, while Sellers had continued working for Xbite.

Michael Sellers met Gracie Spinks when they worked together at Xbite

Det Con Sandall summarised what happened with the other women, who were referred to by numbers to protect their identities.

"Female one" worked with Sellers before he joined Xbite.

"Michael Sellers had to leave the company because of unwanted attention to this female," said Det Con Sandall.

"After he left she had an incident with him where she was driving home at night and she was with her sister and Sellers was parked near her house in his car, and this alarmed her obviously."

Female two was only 17 years old when she started working at Xbite.

"Sellers liked her and started to message her but she told him she wasn't interested," said Det Con Sandall.

"However, it continued. Eventually this female did leave Xbite because of his unwanted attention, and after she left there were some incidents afterwards where it appeared he had been following her.

"She left Xbite, got a new job, moved to a different address and changed her car, but he still managed to follow her."

'Scared to say anything'

Female three was also 17 years old.

"She wasn't aware Michael Sellers had a fascination with her but people at Xbite were aware because they noticed he was watching her," said Det Con Sandall.

Female four was employed as an intern.

"She said during a social event she gave Sellers some attention because he was friendly towards her," said Det Con Sandall.

"Sellers then asked her to go on a date but she said no. On the tenth time of asking she asked him to stop.

"This lady was too scared to say anything to Xbite. She said he made her feel uncomfortable."

Det Con said Sellers is then thought to have set up a Facebook account, pretending to be another colleague, so that he could monitor the woman.

Gracie was murdered after going to look after her horse Paddy at stables in Duckmanton

Female five had gone for a drink with Sellers.

"They did start to become intimate but the lady asked him to stop, but he was annoyed," said Det Con Sandall.

She said the woman stopped messaging Sellers because she thought he was "creepy", but he "didn't like this" and "became hostile".

Later the same year she was driving home and noticed Sellers behind her in his car, and he then bumped into her car with his.

The woman later confronted Sellers in a warehouse at work, "swore at him because she was fed up with him", and left her job.

Police were not able to contact female six because she lives in another country now, but another employee told police Sellers he had been "messaging her inappropriately".

Company 'aware'

Female seven started receiving messages from Sellers after a work night out.

"This lady showed no particular interest in Sellers," said Det Con Sandall.

"However, the next day he messaged her accusing her of speaking to other men and not showing any interest in him.

"He also asked her out and she said no.

"Xbite were aware of that and did speak to him about his inappropriate behaviour."

Female eight was a woman who had returned to Xbite after maternity leave.

"Sellers started to text her and gave her a lot of attention," said Det Con Sandall.

"It made her feel uncomfortable.

"Xbite were aware of that and they did speak to Sellers about his inappropriate behaviour towards this lady."

Sellers was dismissed from work after Miss Spinks complained about him, the inquest heard

The next woman Sellers turned his attentions to was Miss Spinks.

She joined Xbite in April 2020, because she had been furloughed from her normal job as a lifeguard due to the Covid pandemic.

The inquest heard they had met up a few times outside of work towards the end of 2020, including going for a meal together and going for walks.

However, Gracie sent Sellers a Facebook message on 16 December 2020 saying she did not want to have a relationship with him.

Det Con Sandall said she believed the reason Gracie stopped wanting to see Sellers was because he had tried to force himself on her.

"The reason we know about this is because Gracie spoke about it to Xbite, when Sellers was being investigated for harassment," she said.

"She invited Sellers into her home. Once in the house he started kissing her and got on top of her and did not want to get off, but eventually did when Gracie resisted."

'Told me to stop'

Sellers later texted a male colleague about this incident, and a similar incident that he said occurred at his own house.

"When I was on top of her in her house she told me to stop and I told her I wanted her," Sellers said in the text.

He also told the male colleague he had wanted to have sex with Miss Spinks, using a swear word.

The inquest has previously heard that Miss Spinks complained to Derbyshire Police about Sellers before she died on 18 June 2021.

The inquest, which is scheduled to take about four weeks, is expected to hear more about what she said to police, and how they responded.

Sellers' inquest is due to be held after it has concluded.