Surrey Police apologises over flawed decision

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has launched an independent investigation after an 82-year-old man murdered two women seven months after Surrey Police returned guns they confiscated from him.

John Lowe was today (October 29) convicted of killing Christine Lee, 66, and her daughter Lucy Lee (40) at his home address in Farnham in February this year.

Both women suffered fatal shotgun wounds. Surrey Police had seized a number of Lowe’s shotguns in March 2013 but returned them four months later following an assessment by firearms licensing officers.

Lowe also killed four dogs at his home with the same shotgun.

Surrey Police commissioned two independent reports into the decision to return the weapons which concluded that the decision was flawed and did not meet national standards.

An ongoing investigation being conducted by Surrey Police and managed by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has now been re-determined as an independent investigation.

As part of the managed investigation, Surrey Police commissioned two reports from firearms licensing experts in Hampshire Constabulary and North Yorkshire Police.

In a statement, Surrey Police said: “This has been a tragic case and our thoughts remain with the family and friends of the two women who lost their lives.

“While the full investigation into this matter remains on-going, in light of these early findings we have spoken with members of Christine and Lucy Lee’s family to apologise for this.”

Three Surrey Police employees remain subject to a gross misconduct investigation.

It added: “The safety of the public is our primary concern and we have already taken steps to ensure our firearms licensing policy and procedures are in line with national best practice. We are also instigating the recommendations from both reports and reviewing all cases where licences and firearms have been removed and returned to their holders in the last three years.”

The IPCC said the reviews conducted by Hampshire Constabulary and North Yorkshire Police were completed in September and identified potential gross misconduct issues.

IPCC Commissioner Jennifer Izekor said:”Two women have tragically lost their lives, and their family and friends deserve to know the circumstances in which the guns were returned to Mr Lowe. It also is in the interests of the wider public that Surrey Police’s decision-making in these circumstances is independently scrutinised.”

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Lucy and her mother had been providing care and assistance to Lowe after his long-term partner died in 2012.

Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS South East, Jaswant Narwal, said: “The real tragedy in this case is that Christine and Lucy had been helping to look after John Lowe in recent months. After killing them, he showed no remorse for his actions and instead sought to portray himself as the victim.

“Anyone involved in this case cannot fail to have been moved by the extraordinary courage shown by Lucy Lee. On the day of the killings, she called emergency services to tell them her mother had just been shot and that, despite the clear threat to her own life, she would be going back for her. Tragically, Lowe killed her after she returned to the scene.”