Police condemned over stalker murder case failures

The police watchdog has found "individual and systemic" failures in the way Greater Manchester Police dealt with the case of a woman who was murdered by her stalker, dubbed the Facebook Fugitive.

George Appleton, 40, who prowled the Internet for women, killed Clare Wood, 36, when she broke off their relationship after meeting on Facebook.

In one incident she called police about him banging on her door but the response was delayed on 26 occasions because of a lack of available police patrols and officers only turned up more than 24 hours later.

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In the months before her murder Miss Wood had contacted police alleging Appleton had caused criminal damage, harassed, threatened to kill and sexually assaulted her. Despite the repeated complaints she was let down by the force, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) ruled following an investigation.

Police launched a nationwide manhunt after the body of Miss Wood, the mother of a 10-year-old girl, was found strangled in bed at her home in Salford on February 6 last year.

Appleton was found hanged in a derelict pub, also in Salford, five days later.

Police had given Ms Wood an intruder alarm and had served her tormentor with a harassment order. But Appleton, unemployed and living on bility benefits, had a history of stalking women, bombarding his victims with phone calls and text messages.

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The assistant chief constable of GMP, Terry Sweeney, said: "The IPCC investigation found there were some failings on GMP's part, but those failings could not have prevented her death.

"The report has found that there were some flaws in our intelligence systems.

"We're sorry about those failings and are doing what we can to make changes."