SURREY Police have found proven two disciplinary charges against a detective sergeant for his role in the arrest of Stacy Banner, three weeks after the killings of her mother and sister in Tilford.

Ms Banner was arrested on suspicion of burglary and conspiracy to cause criminal damage and detained overnight on March 18, 2014, three weeks after her mother Christine Lee and sister Lucy Lee had been shot dead by John Lowe at Keepers Cottage Stud off Waverley Lane.

However, following an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) into complaints made by Ms Banner, in August 2016 three Surrey Police officers - a detective constable, sergeant and inspector - were served with misconduct and gross misconduct notices.

A subsequent misconduct hearing found last week that, as a consequence of the detective sergeant failing to ensure witness statements were taken, Ms Banner was arrested and held in custody unnecessarily.

The hearing concluded that “management advice” should be given in respect of two of the three allegations of misconduct. The detective sergeant has seven days to decide whether to appeal this finding.

But a separate misconduct hearing for the detective constable, related to conduct of the investigation into an allegation of burglary, found that these were not proven.

And detective inspector Paul Burrill was also cleared of any wrongdoing in a gross misconduct hearing relating to the decision to arrest Ms Banner for a further offence and prolong her detention, after the panel said there was “insufficient evidence” to conclude who actually made this decision.

Ms Banner said following the hearings: “It’s shocking that I was arrested and detained in these circumstances, and the police misconduct findings in relation to at are a vindication.

“But it has proved impossible to identify which officer made the decision to prolong my detention that awful night. How can someone be detained and the police be unable to say which officer is responsible for detaining them? What does this say about police accountability?”

Ms Banner’s solicitor, Sarah Ricca of Deighton Pierce Glynn, added: “We shall be proceeding with Stacy’s civil claim for false imprisonment and trust there will be no dispute about liability on the part of Surrey Police, given what emerged at the disciplinary proceedings.

“Stacy should be fully and properly compensated for what she was put through, so soon after the murders of her mother and sister – murders that were contributed to by the failings of Surrey Police in relation to John Lowe’s firearms.”

Surrey Police chief superintendent Helen Collins said: “The complaints have been thoroughly investigated and the evidence carefully considered at misconduct and gross misconduct hearings involving three officers.

“We are still in a period where the Detective Sergeant can choose whether or not to appeal the findings and therefore will not be commenting further.”

It comes after an 18-month investigation by the IPCC into the deaths of Christine and Lucy Lee at Keepers Cottage Stud published its findings in April.

The probe painted a “deeply concerning” picture of Surrey Police’s firearms licensing team at the time, and found Surrey Police “failed to fully consider and properly assess” information concerning Lowe before returning firearms to him, one of which was subsequently used in the murders in February 2014.

The IPCC investigator found two staff members in Surrey Police’s firearms licensing team had “cases to answer” for misconduct. One has already been dismissed following a hearing, while the second retired before a hearing was held.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has ruled that neither will face criminal charges.