“We felt like they were applauding Gracie”: Chesterfield Gracie Spinks’ parents honoured with award for relentless efforts to make real change for stalking victims

Richard Spinks and Alison Ward were presented with Above and Beyond Award during Chesterfield FC Community Awards ceremony held on Saturday, June 20 – just two days after the fifth anniversary of the tragic death of their daughter Gracie who was killed by stalker Michael Sellers while she was tending to her horses in Duckmanton.

Richard said: "It’s been five years but it seems like a few months to us because we live through that horror every day.

"When we were announced and went to the stage it was amazing to see 200 people stand up and applaud us.

"We felt like they were applauding Gracie.

"It’s been an honour to be nominated for such a prestigious award and we felt humbled by the support we had in the room and the fact that people have voted for us.

"We were very touched by our local vicar and her speech about what we have achieved.”

Over the last five years Gracie’s parents continued to relentlessly campaign to improve the way police handles stalking cases and bring about real change for stalking victims.

Richard and Alison felt let down by police after Gracie reported that she was being stalked by her former work supervisor in February 2021.

The family said police showed ‘total incompetence’ while failing to act on reports of Sellers’ obsessive behaviour and stalking over several months before he killed their 23-year-old daughter.

Richard said: “Gracie’s case wasn’t investigated at all, it was just brushed under the table. It was a code of errors one after another.

"Our main goal is to change the way police deal with stalking.

“We want to raise more awareness of stalking and we want girls and young women to feel safe to go to police or national stalking helpline to report stalking and believe that they are going to be taken seriously.

"We don’t want them be afraid that they are going to be ignored by police or turned around to be a perpetrator rather than a victim, which is the case sometimes.”

Richard and Alison worked with various partners to raise awareness about stalking including Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins, Suzy Lamplugh Trust, which runs the National Stalking Helpline and Alice Ruggles Trust, which raises awareness of stalking and runs school assemblies programme to educate children about stalking.

Richard said: “We have made quite a big impact over the last five years including working with Chesterfield MP and some really good organisations including Suzy Lamplugh Trust and Alice Ruggles Trust which work tirelessly to support women who have been stalked or affected by domestic violence.

"We have also had a lot of support from from the people of Chesterfield and beyond and it’s been incredible.”

Alison and Richard also worked closely with Derbyshire Constabulary and recorded their story in training videos for Derbyshire police officers to highlight the dangers of stalking.

The videos have been used by other police forces, with Richard and Alison told of at least another five UK police forces using their resources.

Richard said: “We’ve made a big difference in the way the police handle stalking complaints and reports, and we are very proud of that but we are not finished yet.

"There are 43 police forces in the UK and just half a dozen of them using our training videos isn’t enough.

"We would like to get more police forces to use the videos and we would want to be actively involved in visiting police forces to talk about stalking.

"Not enough police forces nationally deal with stalking reports to the standard that we would want.

"I don’t think they recognise stalking or take it seriously enough.

"It’s an ongoing process and training is very important both for new police officers and current police officers who need ongoing training.

"Some police forces have made stringent efforts to change the way they deal with stalking in recent years and we are talking to Sarah Pullman who is National Lead for Stalking and Harassment and she has been very helpful, which is a big positive.”

Alison and Richard stressed that they want to continue their fight to ensure girls and young women can have support they deserve.

One of the goals includes taking the Gracie’s Law petition to parliament to request the Government to pass legislation or provide funding within existing police budgets to tackle the ever-growing issue of stalking.

Richard said: “My main aim is to get the Gracie’s Law read in parliament with regards to how stalking protection orders are issued from the police to make it easier for officers to put them in place.

"At the moment it takes too long because it has to go through the courts first.

"Response to stalking and degree of investigation, it varies from police force to police force.

"We need Gracie’s Law to change how police handle stalking on national level.”

Summing up, Richard added: “Gracie’s murder was so traumatic and such high profile that even five years on everybody remembers it.

“It won’t go away or be forgotten because of how violent it was, the fact she was tending to her horses that morning and she was such a young, beautiful girl admired by many.

"Gracie’s website says it’s time for change.

"Some important changes have already been made and we are very proud of that.

"But that’s not the end of the story and we will keep taking this forward to raise awareness about stalking and make sure police take stalking seriously both locally and on national level.”