This episode may contain content of a graphic nature, including descriptions of physical and sexual violence against adults, children, and animals. Listener discretion is advised. Hi everyone, I'm Tanya and I'm Talia and we are Crimes and Consequences, a true crime podcast. Hi Talia, Hi Tania. How are you today? Today's a good day. How are you? I'm doing pretty good. I would like to welcome everyone back to another exciting episode of Crimes and Consequences.
And before we get to the story today, I would just like to remind everyone to please hit this subscribe and follow button. Yes on whatever app you're listening to, doesn't matter. So our story is set in Portslaid, East Essex, England, where a beautiful young woman hey had begun her adult life. Shana Grice was born in nineteen ninety seven and was an only child to Sharon and Richard Gryce. Sharon describes her daughter as beautiful, bright,
bubbly, and kind natured. Shana was known to make friends easily. Everyone just loved her and she was really enthusiastic about life. Now that's nice. Yeah. She loves spending time with her grandparents and she was really close to them. There isn't much more information about Shana's past, but she was clearly loved by her friends and family. In the summer of twenty fifteen, Shana started her first job as an office receptionist at Brighton Fire Alarms. So how
old is she about this time? She's eighteen. It was her first job. Shana was super excited about her new job and was eager to start saving for her wedding with her boyfriend. Yeah, she's gonna be getting married. She had this boyfriend three and a half years. His name is Ashley Cook and he went by ash Shana's friendliness was contagious and she soon became good friends with one of her new coworkers, twenty six year old Michael Lane. Michael
quickly became infatuated. He was attracted to her, and he had no problem letting everyone, including Shana No. Shana was flattered by the attention and had also kind of developed an attraction to Michael two. They started seeing each other for a few months, and during this time I thought she's engaged. She was, but she's eighteen, So Shana was torn between these two men in her life. In December of twenty fifteen, Shana made her decision and broke
things off with Michael. But Michael wasn't going to let things end with Shana so easily. He wanted to win her back. Right on her nineteenth birthday, Michael sent Shana a bouquet of flowers to her work with a note that said happy Birthday, Love you. Shana, being uncomfortable with the gift, reported the incident to her boss and later had a meeting with her HR manager
and Michael to discuss the inappropriate behavior that was making her uncomfortable. Michael had stopped after this meeting for a little bit, but he started back up again. His attempt to win Shana back escalated. One day, Shana went out to her car after work to find the tires on her car slash off shit. Then, conveniently, Michael popped out of nowhere and offered to help change
her tires. That is very convenient. Yeah. Then a few days later, Shana's fiancee, Ash came out to his car to find it had been keyed. Oh there's also a note left on his car and it read quote, dear Ash, Shana has and always will cheat on you. Happy New Year. Oh all right, I know. Shana made her first complaint of Michael's behavior to the Sussex Police on the eighth of February twenty sixteen. When Shana called, she stated quote, I really don't know how to start this
conversation, but I think I'm being stalked. She went on to tell the police about Michael's recent behavior, like over the last six months, which included him standing outside of her house. So this has been six months now. He was hiding behind walls watching her, and hiding behind walls or at work, yeah, or like outside and maybe her house there might have been walls outside, but he was hiding watching her. And then her car was constantly
being damaged in some way. Well, she didn't know for sure that Michael was the one damaging her car. I'm going to tell you he probably was, right, I mean, she had a strong feeling it was him. It doesn't with ash, right, I mean, it just doesn't keep happening
over and over. The police went out in search to find Michael, and when they found him, they gave him words of advice like stay away from Shana, and then the case was closed and Michael did leave Shana alone for a little while, But it didn't take long for the harassment to start up again, and is he around like nineteen twenty six, twenty six Yeah. About a month later, on March twenty fourth, twenty sixteen, the police
were alerted to another incident between Shana and Michael. Ash's mother called the police as Michael had assaulted Shana. He assaulted her, Yeah, when he came over to her house that night. Shana had went out with a group of friends and when she got home, her roommates came home later, and when
they came home, Michael was with them. What I know. With the previous incidents still on her mind, Shana was annoyed that Michael had come to her house and it's like I would be like with my roommates, what are we doing now? What are we doing here? Like I don't want to know him stalking me? Yeah, exactly. Michael and Shana got into a verbal argument and Shana ended up leaving. As she was walking down the street, she noticed that Michael was behind her and had followed her out of the
house. Shana got her cell phone and she was on the phone with Ash when Michael grabbed her phone and pulled her hair. Thankfully, some passerbys had noticed the commotion between the two and asked Shana if she needed any help. She said yes and asked them to take her to her fiancee's house, where Ash's mom would then call the police. Okay, that's when it happened.
When the police arrived, Michael was arrested on suspicion of harassment when the investigating officer took Shana's statement against standard practice guidelines, Shana was interviewed in front of Ash's family, who were comforting her at the time. She was supposed to be interviewed alone. Due to the embarrassment she felt. She felt that she couldn't disclose to the officers that she had a previous intimate relationship with Michael.
I mean, she couldn't do it because you know, she doesn't want them all to know. When Michael was interviewed, he told police how they were in a relationship and they were supposed to meet up. Michael went on to show personal and embarrassing phone messages between the two were recent. I don't think so, but I don't think the police noticed the dates. Instead of punishing Michael for the assault, Shana was given a ninety pound fine for causing wasteful
employment of police by making a false report. Stop it. Yes. No. She was then given words of advice from the investigating officer and no charges were filed against Michael for the assault. Unbelievable. One of Shana's friends noted how this really affected Shana, Like has happened? If you can't trust the police, right, right, if you can't expect them to help you and protect you. Yeah, she felt that no one believed her because they used
to date. The police thought Shina was lying, and as a result, she just felt defeated. Yeah, and not only did they think to his lying, but they'd find her. Yeah. Found they made her pay a fine, right, accusing her doing something wrong. So, because she didn't have the support from the police, she set up a system between her friends and family where they would kind contact each other if they were unable to get
a hold of Shana for her right being proactive. Right, She learned that every embarrassing text or image she had ever sent to Michael was saved on his phone and he was prepared to use those against her to get his wife photos. Yeah. After the assault, Shana quit her job at Brighton Fire Alarm. Yeah, I would too. Michael was also suspended and he resigned from
Brighton Fire Alarms. Shana stayed in contact with Michael. She may have done this just to appease him, and as he was willing to show embarrassing text to people. That's true, right, so she's probably just right. Shana's friends and family were worried that she still had contact with Michael because Michael would make threats of suicide if Shana stopped talking to him or seeing him. Her friends and family grew more concerned every day and tried to convince Shana, you
just need to stop talking to him. Agreed, Yeah, get back to your regular life and cut him off. And she did go on with her life. She was planning or riding with ash and the pair wanted to start a family soon after they got married. They really wanted to have a family. They traveled to Mexico with some friends for a vacation in an attempt to take Shane's mind off of everything that was going on at home and might give her some peace of mind to Michael's not around right. On July eighth,
twenty sixteen, Shana decided to take a stand. She was going to try and cut off Michael. She still had some of his belongings at her house from when they dated. So she called him and said, you know, once and for all, you need to come get your stuff. This is it. We're done. When Michael came to get his belongings, he decided to steal a key to Shana's house, so early the next morning because he had this key, he got into her house with the stolen key and made
his way to Shana's room. Shana, who was pretending to be asleep, had heard footsteps coming from the hallway. She then heard a man breathing and standing above her. After a few minutes of watching her sleep, Michael left the house. Okay, how creepy. She then looked out her window and
clearly saw Michael walking away from her house. Despite the last incident with Sussex Police, Shana made a report to the police, telling them that Michael had stolen the key to her house and then he came into her bedroom without permisially creepy, totally creepy. Shana needed evidence to prove that Michael was actually stalking her because the police didn't believe her that last time, so she decided to call Michael and record the conversation, and Michael admitted to stealing the key in
an attempt to see and talk to her. Shana told Michael this behavior is completely unacceptable and he was scaring her roommates. Oh yeah, that's right to his roommates. Yeah, I mean, she's not the only one in the house. She told Michael that he needed to not only apologize to her, but he needed to apologize to her roommates. I would just let it gozeeve me the fuck alone, I know, Michael said. And he agreed and said he had no right to trespass onto her property like that, and he
was scared that he was going to get in trouble. He told her, Okay, I'm no longer going to come to your house at all. And Shana told him that was probably for the best because she didn't want to keep going round and round in this crazy circle with Michael. Just leave me the fuck Alonge exactly. I'm getting married, exactly. Michael told Shana he would return the key, which he did later that afternoon. However, when he
did come to return it, police were waiting for him. Oh shit, yeah, I didn't see that coming because Shana had given them the phone recording. Good for her. I'm so proud of her me too. He was arrested, but he wasn't charged with breaking and entering or stocking. He was merely cautioned about the theft and was free to go once again. So the agassi, Okay, don't do that again. Yeah, just don't do that again. That works. That never worked for me. Just don't do it.
Okay, Okay, I'm gonna do it. On July tenth, a day after the break in, Shana called the Sussex Police Department again in regards to phone calls she was getting. She asked the operator at the police station if it was perhaps the police that we're trying to get in contact with her about the incident the day before, but the operator said no, there's no
log of anyone trying to call her from within the department. The operator investigated the number that was calling her, and they looked into where it was coming from. Oh, they did all that. Yeah. The operator informed Shana that the number was registered to a travel insurance company. It was later found out that the number was from Michael's home address, However, Shana was never told this. Later that same day, Shana called the Sussex Police again to
inform them she was still getting calls from a withheld number. When she would answer the phone, all she could hear was breathing. Just don't answer any honestly, she told the operator, I don't answer any numbers. I don't know either neither. Don't do it. I just don't do it. Shana told the operator she believed it was Michael and she was getting really scared. The operator told Shana they would notify the officer who had dealt with the break
in the previous day. Unbeknownst to Shana, Michael had placed a tracker on her car so he could follow her. He would return to replace the batteries every ten days. Wow. One day, when she was driving, she looked in a rear room mirror and saw Michael was behind her. Michael would also appear at pubs or clubs she was at with her friends, and you know, he would just pops everywhere. Yeah, he's just leaving her alone. He's not leaving her alone, but he's not doing anything where she can
get him in trouble exactly. He's just being creepy, creepy stalker. On July twelfth, sixteen, Shana called the Sussex Police again to report that Michael had followed her while she drove to work. The police deam the situation to be low risk, and they really didn't do a whole lot on August fourth, so this is probably a couple of weeks later, Shana looked out her window to once again see Michael standing out in front of her house. That's
terrifying, as nothing was being done by the police. Shana told her friend, who was with her at the time, that she feared that if she reported it to the police again, they wouldn't believe her. I agree, I know. She told her friend that she thought the police would think she was just blowing stuff out of proportion. Her friend tried to convince her to report this to the police and even said that they had to believe her this time because she had someone now to back up her story. I mean,
her friend's there, she sees Michael's got a witness. Right. After many attempts to commence Shana to go to the police, she decided not to call them. In the span of six months, Shana had called the police five times to report the harassment she was enduring. And how many times didn't she call them that? I know, right? And they never took her serious During the months of harassment, Shana's mother, Sharon, noticed a difference in
her daughter. She said that Shana was usually bubbly and bright, but after all this started, she just seemed tired and she just looked run down and defeated. Right, yeah, yeah, And August twenty six, twenty sixteen, so about three weeks after he was standing outside her home, Shana failed to turn up to work. Her co workers were aware of the situation with
Michael, so they were instantly worried about Shana. Co workers called the police and Ash her fiance to let them know that Shana didn't come to work that day. Reports from Shana's neighbors said that smoke was coming from her house. Ashcot in contact with Shana's father and he ran over to Shana's house. When he got there, he broke down the door to get inside, and he tried to find Shana. Well, what about her roommates too, right, maybe they were all at work too, Oh, yeah, because she didn't
show up from Yeah, she didn't show up for work. When Ash's father got into the house, he was met with a haze of smoke and he just started yelling for Shana. When he made his way to Shana's bedroom. He found her lying face down in her bed, covered in blood. Her room was just filled with smoke. Two fires had been set in Shana's room, one on her bed and the other on the carpet in her room in
an attempt, probably to mask the crime. A box of matches in some flammable liquid was found in the room, which were believed to be what was used to start the fire. An autopsy of Shana's body showed that her throat had been slit and she bled to do And before I tell you the rest of the story, we're going to take a break. When the police began their investigation into Shane's murder, it didn't take them long to focus on Michael.
Yeah. I would assume it's a no brainer, right with all of the incidents that were reported to the police, and he became suspect number one. The day before Shane's murder, CCTV footage found that Michael purchased gas at a gas station. The footage also saw Michael walking towards Chana's house, and after her murder, her credit card was used by him to withdraw sixty pounds
from her account. When Braden for questioning later that day, Michael initially lied about his whereabouts and yeah, wasn't He just denied any involvement with her murder. I mean, obviously people are fucking liars after murders. Yeah, especially murderers. After being in terror gated for a bit, Michael changed his story. He claimed that that morning he had gone over to Shane's house and found the door was wide open. Oh, he just happened to be in the
neighborhood. That just happened to be in the neighborhood. When he went inside, he found Shane's body. He claimed that he was in shock and he was terrified, so he left without calling the police, because that's normal. I know, you find someone murdered. Nope, I'm not calling the police. I'm just horrified. He told police that he was afraid that he was going to be accused of committing the crime. Oh yeah, which is also
why he didn't call them. Police asked him about the gasolene he was caught buying the day prior to her murder, and he told believes that he was just so distraught over their breakup with China a year ago that he intended on killing himself by setting himself on fire. Okay, that's at all. No, come on, who does that? Nobody? Nobody, well, some
people, come on now. When police asked why Michael used Shane's ATM card discovering her body, because that's a good fucking question, right, he told police that he left her house and didn't want to believe what he discovered, so he went to a nearby gas station to check a lottery ticket that he had purchased. When he was checking his ticket, he decided to pay himself back for some gifts he had purchased for Shana. This is they were step.
I know. I was so shocked and terrified by finding a murder that I went to the gas station to check my lottery numbers, and then I thought, oh, you know what, I'm going to pay myself back. I can't do stupid today for the gifts I bought the dead girl. Come on, I can't do this stupid. Come on, this is just ridiculous. It's great that I would have been sitting there like, are you fucking kidding me? As a cop? Can you imagine? Oh? I know.
With the evidence the investigators were able to compile against Michael, he was arrested for Shana's murder. Body language experts looked over the footage of Michael when he was being interrogated by police, and they found that Michael unknowingly gave away his lies by the way he was acting. They said that rather than looking like a grieving axe who lost someone they loved, he was acting like a
child throwing a tantrum. In a documentary called Faking It Tears of a Crime, Cliff Lansley, who was one of these body language experts, he watched the interview footage and this is what he had to say about Michael's behavior. Quote, he is faking sadness. The facial expression is characterized by the brows being slightly down and the chin is forced up into a pout, almost like a sulking child. Sadness doesn't look like that. Sadness is eyebrows up and
the corners of the mouth down to self if I ever needs Yeah. So Michael's arrested and he's going to go on trial, and in the time before the trial, it was discovered that Shana was not the first person he had stopped and harassed. I'm not exactly. In twenty ten, Michael was arrested for allegedly grooming a fourteen year old while he was volunteering as a Scout leader. And this is six months prior, so he's about twenty exactly. That's just gross. He's a Scout leader. Yeah, he's a Scout leader.
Michael didn't end up getting charged with the incident, but police did put a marker on his record. Yeah, okay, some marker because when she's complaining. This didn't stop Michael from applying and becoming a Scout assistant in twenty fifteen. Oh, that's that's nice. I know records of his previous membership were missed when he reapplied. This was also missed, like we just said, when Shana started reporting to the police that he was harassing her, because maybe
if it had her police for help would have been taken more seriously. So I don't understand what this fucking marker. I don't even think nothing. When the Sussex Police were asked about the investigation into the allegations that Michael was grooming that child, they told the public that the allegation was quickly responded to and after a thorough investigation, there was insufficient evidence to get the police to charge
Michael for grooming. The investigation of Michael's background also found that he had been targeting young girls trying to find sexual partners. He would use fake names with some of them in order to avoid detection. The police also talked two previous girlfriends at Michael had and they claimed he was very controlling in their relationships. He would often bombard previous partners with explicit images and messages, asking for sex
and even offering to pay them to sleep with his girlfriend. Yeah. It was also reported that Michael would just hang around outside their house. He harassed two women in a pub and allegedly sexually assaulted another. Well that's kind of a big deal. Yeah. One victim, her name was l May, spoke out about how Michael had and harassing her for ten years. Ten years. He would send photos of her bedroom window oh Man and send her tax telling her he could see her, and later she would notice him in a
parked car nearby. What did she do about it? I don't know, but she told reporters that she had met Michael at a camp when she was younger. He was seven years older than her. She had noticed some weird behavior in Michael, like he would look at her like from the corner of his eye, but She didn't think much about it at the time. Then she began noticing him driving by her house and she was thirteen, Oh no,
yeah, no, thirteen. Then he would just show up like out of nowhere when she was out, like in the streets or whatever, like saying, oh, I'll give you a ride home. When she turned sixteen, Michael sent Al a message asking if she would like to go out for a drink and then go for a drive. So this is three years later. She refused the offer because she was totally freaked out. Yea, and she blocked him on her social media cants yeah. He then sent her a
friend request on Snapchat apologized for his creepy behavior. At last, he recognized it. Right then he tried to proposition Al for sex. Okay, there you go, yeah, and started sending her the photos of her house over Snapchat. One night, when All was out at a local pub with her boyfriend, she began getting messages from Michael saying such things as quote, you shouldn't be with him, you should be with me. I quote, Al got a psycho. I know. El was terrified. Obviously, she was
scared to leave her house because she knew Michael lived nearby. One day, she simply just told him she wasn't interested in him, and then they never spoke again. He got it, he got it finally, or he just moved on to someone else exactly. Elle says that she wished she had come forward earlier because maybe Shana could have been saved. You know, I don't think she reported any of this to the police. Police confirmed it. After
Shanah was murdered. Seven women came forward with similar allegations against Michael, but unfortunately, none of the reports resulted in any kind of prosecution. The trial for Shanah's murder went on for two weeks. Michael had pleaded not guilty. During the trial, the jury heard that Michael tried to hide the sneakers he was wearing when he murdered Shana in a field, but find him. Yeah, he was recognized with someone who had seen the press release from the police,
so they did find the sneakers. The jury heard how Michael was able to commit the crime. He knew Shana's roommates were not going to be home because they were at work, so he broke into the house. He had a knife, possibly from her own kitchen. The knife was never found. A neighborhood, yelling from Shanah's place. Ah, so she had become aware that Michael had gotten to her home. There was a loud argument between the two. He then came up from behind Shana and slid her throat, where
she then fell on to the bed and she was left to die. Michael stole Shana's credit card to withdraw money. I told you that. And after withdrawing the money from her account, he went back to her house with a bag. He doused her bed and carpet with gasoline and started really I know, and he started the fire to try to get rid of the evidence. I know, right to go back, yeah, I mean, you could have been seen by anyone. It's fucking broad daylight to you, right.
I don't know how close these houses were, but it doesn't matter. He went back, yeah, absolutely. Then he just left after he set fire to her bedroom. The fire didn't really take hold though, because the oxygen in the room had depleted, so it wasn't like a blazing fire when Ash's dad showed up. Michael then went home after he killed Chena, and he tried to dispose of his bloody clothes, and he did manage to get rid of the murder weapon. Trying to act like nothing happened. Michael went to
a dunist appointment and to work. Why not before eventually, I know before the police eventually picked him up to question him. During the trial, the jury also heard how Michael refused to accept the break up and reportedly told a friend that quote, she will pay for what she has done end quote. Shane's mom testified and just heard how heartbroken she was, she said, quote. Shana was a beautiful, bright, and bubbly, kind natured nineteen year
old who brought joy to all those who knew and loved her. She was popular throughout childhood. She made friends easily and was never grumpy. She loved life and was always enthusiastic. Much better person than me. Yeah, I'm always grumpy. I know That's why I like you so much. I always say, have a bad attitude. After just two hours and twenty minutes of deliberation, a unanimous decision was made by the jury and Michael was found guilty
for murdering Shana. During the sentencing, the judge had this to say, quote everyone in this court heard Shana speak when the recording of her conversation with you about the theft of the key was played, we heard the clear tones of a confident and vibrant young woman. You robbed Shane of her life and you have caused grief untold to her family and friends. Michael was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after twenty five years, which would
be twenty forty one. Because this is England, so this is England, they too. The judge called out the poor investigation work done by the Sussex Police. He voiced his disgust with the complete disregard of Shana's concerns and the lack of care that went into each report that she had made to the police. The investigator who had come out and investigated those early complaints that I told you about he ended up see gross misconduct charges due to how he handled the
case. In twenty nineteen, he told the Police Disciplinary Tribunal that quote, she would be signing her text to Michael with five kisses. This is not harassment. It was a smoke screen to disguise her affair. There was nothing there to make me think she was in any type of danger whatsoever. Endue Wow is that true? Yeah? Well, yeah, I mean he had these text messages from her Like you said, I don't know what date they were from. It might have been when they first started dating, before he
became creepy. I don't know, or maybe she's just too nice. Maybe. While he was found later to have committed misconduct, the tribunal believed there just wasn't enough to charge him with gross misconduct and that officer retired. Her parents just thought this was a joke and felt that no justice was served for their daughter. After Shane has murder, many of her friends took to her Facebook page to share thought and stories and express how much she will be missed.
One user said quote, Heaven has gained such a beautiful angel. I cannot believe what has happened. You're such a great soul. End quote. Another said quote, We'll always remember those stories you told me about your trip to Mexico with Joanne ash Scott in the family. Those moments will never be forgotten. End quote. Shana had just touched so many lives and it was
proven all over her Facebook page. Ash had an interview hours after her body was discovered, and he told reporters that just a few hours before she was murdered, they had a kiss and a cuddle as he left for work that morning. He also talked about a tribute he'd like to get for Shana.
He said she was just really kind and cared about everyone. After scrutiny from the public, the Sussex Police issued an apology to Shana's family and referred them to the Independent Police Complaints Commission to conduct an investigation into the handling of the case of Shana's stocking. And I told you a little bit about that. I don't understand why she didn't get a restraining order or person. I don't know. I don't either, Maybe because she just felt like she didn't have
enough proof, like the police weren't taking her serious. She maybe, I don't know, it would have been different people evaluating it. It would have been yeah, exactly, I don't know. But just to give you an idea too of how far reaching it was in the police department. During the investigation that went on, thirteen separate people had a part in Shana's case and they were all looked at to see if something could have been done to help
her. In March twenty twenty one, a documentary called Murder in Slow Motion the Shane of Greys Story was broadcast on Skycrime Man. It's it's a PC yeah channel in England, so I don't know if it's widely available here, like maybe on Amazon. Yeah, it would be really good. So very sad, very off, I knows, I think because maybe she was young.
I don't know. I tried, Yeah, she tried. Yeah she, I mean try to be proactive in her own safety and even reach out to the police, and nothing saved her, right, And I'm trying to think, like, why would they not take her serious? Oh yeah, you know, maybe she's young because she was young and he had these text
messages with kisses or whatever on them, and I'm sure that's why. Yeah, because I'm sure people, I'm sure there are people out there that my false report, right and all my boyfriend, my ex boyfriend won't le me yac and then they see text and they're like mmmmm, I mean I kind of get it, but still they should have really done a more thorough job.
I agree. And it's too bad because she lost her life over it because he was a fucking nut job and he lost his life too, Yeah, exactly, And who knows the ramifications for their friends and family too. It's just saying all around, yeah, thanks for the Spitzer. I'm sorry. They're all pissers. They're all pissers, every single one of them. Ye. Thank you everyone for listening. Yes, thank you Tanya for sharing this story. You're very welcome. And in case you haven't done so,
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