COUNTY NEWS: Victim's mother welcomes police review into Robert Trigg killings
Robert Trigg, an unemployed man from Worthing, was sentenced to 25 years in prison without parole for the murder of Susan Nicholson in 2011 and the manslaughter of Caroline Devlin on Mother’s Day in 2006.
Both families of the victims had criticised Sussex Police for its handling of the investigations – and the force apologised to them after the sentence was announced.
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Hide AdBut now, Sussex Police has commissioned three reviews: one of the investigations, one about how the police handled complaints following the investigations, and a review by West Sussex County Council to see what lessons can be learnt across multiple agencies.
Elizabeth Skelton, Miss Nicholson’s mother, welcomed the police reviews. She said: “We hope it comes to a good conclusion, but we still have so many unanswered questions.
“We will have to wait for the outcome; you can’t make a judgement until they say what they are going to do.”
Mrs Skelton and her husband Peter spent £10,000 of their life savings to get the case to court in a five-year battle.
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Hide AdMrs Skelton felt ‘angry’ they had to go to such lengths to get justice for their daughter, but said ‘we weren’t going to give up’.
Assistant Chief Constable Laurence Taylor said the reviews would be ‘robust and probing’: “The force will act on any key findings and, in our commitment to be open, we will publish those of the internal reviews after sharing with the families.
“I am truly sorry it has taken this long to get justice and it is important that we learn any lessons and provide answers for the families of Caroline and Susan.”
The families of both Miss Nicholson and Miss Devlin have been informed about these reviews.