Shana Grice murder: Michael Lane harassed 12 women before killing ex

A man who stalked and killed his ex was arrested over claims he groomed a 14-year-old girl, a report said.

Michael Lane, who murdered Shana Grice, 19, was not charged over the 2010 allegation, said to have taken place when he was a volunteer scout leader.

Police marked the arrest on his record, but this was apparently not noted six years later when Miss Grice accused him of harassment, a report said.

Sussex Police said it thoroughly investigated the earlier report.

Lane killed Miss Grice then aged 27, at her home in Brighton, East Sussex, in August 2016.

The domestic homicide review found he harassed 12 other girls and young women between 2006 and 2016.

'Access to victims'

There were accounts of him being "very controlling" in another relationship, bombarding women with explicit texts messages and pictures of himself, pestering them to sleep with him for money, loitering outside their homes, harassing two women he met in a pub and sexually assaulting another.

Police previously confirmed several women came forward to report Lane after the murder but none of the cases resulted in prosecution.

The report said Lane had "used youth movements, which appealed to young women and girls, to allow him access to victims".

Victims did not feel they could report their concerns, the report said.

Shana Grice had reported Lane to police on five occasions before her death

After his arrest on suspicion of grooming the 14-year-old via text and Facebook messages, Lane resigned from the Scouts.

He was told the allegation would be considered if he tried to re-join.

However, when he re-applied in 2015 a "temporary glitch in the IT system" meant he was not recognised as a past member and he volunteered for several months, the report said.

Sussex Police decided not to reveal allegations when a check was made by the Disclosure and Barring Scheme (DBS), concluding it would be "disproportionate".

Davina James-Hanman, chair of the domestic homicide review, said that the "prevailing culture" among young people - in which teenage girls face "an endless bombardment of messages that inform them they are valued for how they look" - leads to harassment being "minimised, normalised or even rationalised as 'romance'."

"Women's discomfort and fear is routinely dismissed as being 'unable to take a joke'," she said.

Lane was sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in jail

Ms James-Hanman said that there was also a failure to recognise the dangers of stalking and called for a cross-government definition of the offence to be agreed as a "matter of urgency".

Sussex Police has previously apologised for its failings in its treatment of Miss Grice, which led the police watchdog to issue 16 recommendations.

The Scout Association said the safety of its members was a "priority" and "stringent vetting" was carried out.

Brighton and Hove City Council said the recommendations of the report would be used to create a "combined action plan".