POLICE graded the disappearance of a young woman as only a medium risk missing person case when she escaped from a mental health facility and was burnt to death.

An inquest in to the death of student Janet Muller was told that Sussex Police referred themselves to the Independent Police Complaints Commissions because she had already gone missing earlier the same day that she was last seen, only to be found in the boot of a burnt out car a day later.

But an inquest in to the 21-year-old Eastbourne student’s death yesterday heard police graded her a “medium risk” missing person because staff at Mill View hospital in Hove “were not concerned” on March 12, 2015.

After climbing over a garden wall to escape for the second time, Janet was killed by Christopher Jeffrey Shaw – who is serving 17 years in prison for her manslaughter.

Detective Inspector Martin Sapwell, of Sussex Police’s professional standards department, carried out the review of the force’s handling of the case.

He told the inquest at Crawley Coroner’s Court: “Janet was recorded as a missing person.

“The duty inspector made an assessment that she was a medium risk missing person.

“They were aware she was vulnerable but there was no particular belief that there was a threat of harm.

“It was my opinion there was substantial concern about Janet and she needed to be graded as a high risk from the time she was reported missing.

“However, had this been the case it would have been unlikely to have changed the initial enquiries.

“At that time there was no indication where she may have gone.

“The officers who attended Mill View highlighted concerns that staff were unable to access CCTV and unable to access information about Janet.

“There were insufficient staff on duty to search the hospital grounds as required.”

Kirsty Heaven, representing Janet’s family, asked Det Insp Sapwell about the police log of the night Janet went missing.

The inquest heard one officer had recorded: ”Assessed as medium risk.

“I considered changing it to high, but a second officer attended Mill View and said that Mill View was not concerned so it was left at medium.”

Det Insp Sapwell told the inquest Janet had been upgraded to high risk on March 15, but by that time she was already dead.

He said: “Tragically, on March 13, within 16 hours of being recorded missing, Janet’s badly burned body was found in the boot of a car.

“Janet had been murdered but due to the level of disfigurement she was not formally identified until March 17.

“Christopher Jeffrey Shaw was not known to Janet. I found no evidence he had been to Mill View.

“My understanding is he was a complete stranger to her that night.”

He said a call was put out to taxi and bus drivers across Brighton and Hove to look out for Janet on the night of March 12 and a Streamline cab driver reported seeing her near Victoria Road, Portslade, but when officers searched the area they could not find her.

He added: “There is a strong possibility she encountered Christopher Jeffrey-Shaw around the time of that last sighting.”

The inquest continues.

JURY EXPECTED TO RETIRE TODAY TO CONSIDER ITS VERDICT

A JURY is today expected to retire to consider the circumstances that led to University of Brighton student Janet Müller being detained at, and escaping from, Mill View hospital before she was brutally killed.

Berlin-born Janet came to the UK to study international business management in Eastbourne in September 2012.

Her twin sister, Selina, began studying in Kent, where Janet met her girlfriend Helen Sutton.

Janet had been smoking skunk cannabis heavily before starting to suffer strange behaviour and psychotic episodes. She was first taken to Mill View hospital in Hove in March after being found naked at Eastbourne Station. She was sectioned under the Mental Health Act, but escaped twice on March 12.

Christopher Jeffrey-Shaw set fire to a hired Volkswagen Jetta near Ifield Golf Club with Janet in the boot the following day. Last year he was found guilty of manslaughter and jailed for 17 years.

Selina told the jury had seen patients openly smoking cannabis within the hospital garden, from which her twin later escaped.

Janet’s mother Ramona Müller said she did not feel the hospital had kept her up to date about Janet’s treatment.

She told the jury: “They always said she was fine.”

“I just thought she was a little bit ill.”

Nursing staff told the inquest they knew the risks of patients escaping through the hospital’s front door and by scaling the wall of the garden in Caburn ward. But they said Janet was not stopped from going in to the garden when she was returned to the ward after her first escape attempt on March 12.

Despite being found acting strangely by a farmer at Devil’s Dyke – hitting herself and saying she needed to hurt someone – nurses decided not to increase how often staff checked on her.

Only one qualified nurse – Naomi O’Mahony – was on duty when Janet escaped from Caburn for the second time on March 12, 2015.

Ms O’Mahony said Janet had been distressed at about 9pm but at the time she was busy dispensing patients’ night time medication so only briefly saw her to calm her down She said: “As the nurse in charge you don’t always have time to see everyone all the time.

“At the time I was doing the medication round and due to the demands on the ward wasn’t able to spend as much time with her as I would have liked.”