Son tells of shock upon discovering the man he called a 'friend' killed his mother

The son of a woman murdered by her ex-boyfriend has spoken of his shock at finding out that a man he called his 'friend' had killed her.

Maria Stubbings from Chelmsford was murdered by Marc Chivers, who had recently been jailed for assaulting her.

An IPCC investigation found that Essex Police had removed a panic alarm from her home, despite knowing that Chivers had killed a previous girlfriend. Maria's son, Bengi Stubbings, who was 15 at the time, was left with Chivers in the house, not knowing that his mother's body was hidden there.

Chief Constable Stephen Kavanagh of Essex Police said: "I recognise the pain that the Stubbings family are going through but I am absolutely committed to say we are doing things differently to 2008, differently to 2011. But there is a lot more that we need to do."