The police: 'The initial investigation was not as thorough and detailed as it should have been...'

POLICE accept mistakes were made in the months following Anita Stead's death.

Murderer Alan Stead was treated as a suspect and interviewed under caution following the fire almost seven years ago.

A file was later sent to Staffordshire Crown Prosecution Service only for the case to be closed because of insufficient evidence.

It was only when the then incoming North Staffordshire coroner Ian Smith looked at the file and referred the case back to police in November 2006 that progress was finally made. They found no expert reports were ever produced into whether electrical items, including an iron and a tumble drier, had sparked the blaze.

The same experts who could have told police there was never any electrical fault.

"There is a lot of regret that the initial investigation was not as thorough and detailed as it should have been, said Detective Inspector Andy Wall today.

"We are quite confident now, with the restructure of the force, that far more stringent checks and processes are done to ensure responses to investigations are as vigorous and robust as possible."

Twenty police officers and staff were involved in the second investigation over 14 months before Stead was charged on February 26 last year.

It was a second investigation which brought 'compelling' evidence against Stead.

DI Wall said: "Quite a large number of witnesses were identified. Some interviewed as part of the initial investigation were re-interviewed.

"This incident affected a lot of people in different ways and what they remembered and how it affected them was checked on its merits.

"In addition to witnesses, we sought more detail – forensic and expert opinion. We presented all our findings to them and their opinions were given. The evidence was overwhelmingly stacked against Stead.

"The scientific evidence and additional witness evidence allowed us to be successful in charging him in February 2008."

But Stead just expanded on what he had told police six years earlier.

DI Wall added: "He just would not accept the evidence we were putting before him. And he would not accept the new scientific evidence.

"We were being told it was highly probable an accelerant had been used, there were two seats of fire, and this fire had been started by the application of a naked flame.

"He did not make any admissions. Everybody was wrong, everything that was put to him was wrong."

Stead's motive was pretty clear – he wanted a divorce and feared losing his house and having to pay maintenance for his four children.

DI Wall said: "He was happy to live the lifestyle he had and was happy to have a wife prepared to allow herself to be treated how he wanted to treat her.

"She had decided after many years of control and abuse to stand up to him and had turned to family and friends, and had taken advice from a solicitor about getting a divorce.

"We are completely satisfied he knew of those plans to divorce.

"He could not face the prospect of losing his home, children and having to pay maintenance. That was his motive for killing his wife.

"He was a controlling individual, a Victorian husband. I would suggest it went further than that. My view is what he subjected his wife to was psychological abuse. Once she started to stand up to him, it was a calculated and premeditated act to protect his own interests."

Stead has claimed he could not have started the fire because he was in bed.

But DI Wall said: "He turned the computer on in the house, waited for her to come home from the dentist, cajoled or forced her into the playroom, got her in there, shut the bookcase door, and lit the fire just outside it."

But Stead told jurors she had killed herself.

DI Wall said: "That was the first time suicide was mentioned. I have a firm view he waited to see what evidence was presented by the prosecution and tried to make his story fit the science.

"It's not just the suicide, it's the lies, the state of the fire, his account that there was thick black smoke which you could chew on and him having to crawl on his back. If that was true he would have been in a far worse state, as would his daughter.

"It was calculated, premeditated and involved a lot of planning such as making the computer room, buying a carbon monoxide detector, and the completion and postal of an insurance proposal of his wife's life, dated May 9, 2002.

"He is a meticulous liar who has told lies over many years.

"There was also his unwillingness to give information to the fire service. If he had said, 'My wife is behind the up and over door' they would have rescued her in seconds.

"He did not give further information despite many requests from fire officers, police and neighbours. It delayed the fire service by 23 minutes."

But Stead must have thought he had got away with his evil crime after all these years.

He had claimed quite a large house insurance settlement and paid off his mortgage. He then sold the property for a considerable profit. Within 12 months he had set himself up with a new "substantial" home and he had no mortgage.

Stead has never worked since murdering Anita. He has also never re-married but has a partner and they have a child together.

But his father-in-law would not rest until he found justice.

DI Wall said: "Since November 2006, constant contact has been maintained by the inquiry team with Anita's father, Bert Whitehead, and his family.

"They have never been in any doubt that they treated the death in suspicious circumstances.

"Mr Whitehead knew Anita wanted a divorce and he helped by advising her to keep a record of Stead's mistreatment of her. Stead found it a couple of weeks before the fire.

"And there was a phone call between Anita and her sister. Anita was upset and frightened about how Stead would react to finding that record.

"I would like to pay tribute to Bert Whitehead and his tenacity in ensuring everything possible was being done to bring Alan Stead to justice. We pay particular tribute to him and the work he has done with us in making sure we were made fully aware of everything. He has done nothing more than any father would do faced with the same circumstances."