A FORMER police officer accused of misconduct after teenager Shana Grice was murdered by her ex-boyfriend has denied applying a stereotype that she could not be at risk from him due to them being sexually involved.

Sussex Police officer Trevor Godfrey defended his actions in recommending no further action be taken against Lane following an assault allegation earlier in 2016, and a fixed penalty for Ms Grice for wasting police time, after it emerged the 19-year-old from Mile Oak had initially misled police in not telling them the pair were in a secret sexual relationship.

He said: "She (Ms Grice) lied to police three times. It was only right I advised her she cannot keep lying in police statements and getting people arrested for it."

James Berry, counsel presenting the case against Mr Godfrey, accused the former police officer of applying a stereotype to the case.

Mr Berry said: "There is a stereotype that if Person A is in a relationship with Person B, one cannot be at risk from the other. Do you agree with that?"

Mr Godfrey, who retired at the end of 2017, replied: "No. It may be the case (applying stereotypes) for other people, I don't have those views."

He added: "There was no history of violence between them, there was no evidence of violence, of risk at that time."

Pressing him on the matter, Mr Berry said: "You applied that stereotype to Shana, didn't you?"

"No I didn't," Mr Godfrey replied. "You are asking me to tell you the same thing, over and over again."

Mr Godfrey said there was no sign of Ms Grice being harassed, something she previously accused Lane of before admitting to police that him being outside her house late at night was because she had arranged the meeting behind the back of her then boyfriend Ashley Cooke.

Mr Godfrey said: "She would be signing her texts (to Lane) with five kisses.

"This is not harassment. It was a smokescreen to disguise her affair."

Mr Godfrey said there was therefore "no reason" to supply Ms Grice with safety advice regarding her relationship with Lane.

He said: "She was in an active relationship with him for six months. I can honestly say, hand on heart, there was nothing there to suggest she was in any form of danger whatsoever."

Summing up the case against Mr Godfrey, Mr Berry said the former officer "did not show the expected level of diligence" when dealing with Ms Grice's allegation against Lane.

He said there was a "serious failing" in Mr Godfrey not filling out a risk assessment form following this incident.

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He said: "When he realised Shana had given him misleading information, something changed.

"Notwithstanding Michael Lane's admission in interview (of grabbing the phone), Mr Godfrey decided not a word of Shana's side could be believed and that she was not at any risk from Lane.

"That was not just an error of judgment, it was a blinkered approach that amounted to serious failure.

"Mr Godfrey allowed her misleading statement to cloud his judgment."

Mr Berry added: "Mr Godfrey applied the stereotype (of a person in a relationship not being at risk of harm from the other) to Shana's statement because it affected how he viewed her, how he viewed her allegations, whether he thought he needed to carry out a risk assessment, and whether to give her safety advice.

"Mr Godfrey simply lost his impartiality and Lane became the victim and Shana became the wrong-doer.

"Everything Shana said carried no weight any more - even the things that were not in doubt.

"Mr Godfrey's handling of this case did not represent the impartiality expected of a police officer."