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Killer in the family podcast
A true crime podcast exploring men who kill their families.
Killer in the family podcast
Episode 32 - Christine and Shania Chambers
The tragic story of Christine Chambers and her daughter Shania is one that exemplifies the darkest corners of domestic abuse and the heartbreaking failures of the systems meant to protect. As we discuss the chilling history of violence that culminated in their deaths, we also reflect on the resilience and enduring spirit of Christine's other daughter, Chelsea, and her two older sons.
In June 2011 just hours before they were due at a custody hearing Christine Chambers and her two year old daughter Shania were killed by her ex-partner David Oakes. Her other daughter managed to escape and raise the alarm. David was a man with a violent history who breached non-molestation orders many times since Christine had broken up with him – he wasn’t sanctioned at all and instead was free to kill Christine, Shania and try and kill Chelsea. There was more the police and other services could and should have done.
This is the story of Christine and Shania Chambers.
Information and support
· Samaritans UK Contact Us | Samaritans
· National Domestic Violence Helpline UK 0808 2000 247
· Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse (AAFDA) Home - AAFDA
· Women’s Aid www.womensaid.org.uk
· Mental health support USA I'm looking for mental health help for myself | Mental Health America (mhanational.org)
· Domestic abuse helpline USA 1.800.799.SAFE Domestic Violence Support | National Domestic Violence Hotline (thehotline.org)
References
'As I ran for help, I knew evil stepdad would kill my mum and baby sister' - Mirror Online
David Oakes jailed for ex-partner and daughter murders - BBC News
David Oakes: Double murderer had 'violent reputation' - BBC News
Emma Kenny True Crime https://youtu.be/Gyq9bpXYgMs?si=nakiQ0dOagFVMPOR
IPCC report braintreeandwithamtimes.co.uk/resources/files/23911/
david-oakes-sentencing-remarks-11052012.pdf (judiciary.uk)
labyrinth-domestic-abuse-injunctions-final-1.pdf (rightsofwomen.org.uk)
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Hi there and welcome to Killer in the Family podcast. I'm your host, clare Laxton. Welcome to episode 32 of Killer in the Family podcast. So by the time you listen to this episode, I will actually be in Nashville, tennessee, attending CrimeCon with a friend. So I'm really excited to be taking Killer in the Family stateside. So keep an eye on Instagram and TikTok for updates from Nashville and CrimeCon. Also, do keep story suggestions coming in. Get in touch with me on Insta at Killer in the Family pod or on the text through the sender text link in the episode notes and I'll add them to the list. So let's get into this episode.
Speaker 1:In June 2011, just hours before they were due a custody hearing, christine Chambers and her two-year-old daughter, shania, were killed by her ex-partner, david Oakes. Her other daughter managed to escape and raise the alarm. David was a man with a violent history who breached non-monestation orders many times. Since Christine had broken up with him, he wasn't sanctioned at all and instead was free to kill Christine and Shania and try and kill Christine's other daughter, chelsea. There was more the police and other services could and should have done. This is the story of Christine and Shania Chambers. This is going to be a tough listen. Every episode really is, this one in particular as, once again, I genuinely believe that the murders of Christine and Shania and the trauma caused to Christine's other daughter, chelsea, could have absolutely been prevented. It's really important to talk about the fact that Christine's daughter and two older sons are still with us. The pain they must have experienced due to the actions of David Oakes is just horrific, and I'm thinking of them. So there's not loads out there about this story. I've relied on news reports and court reports as well. There's also a brilliant crime story episode by Emma Kenny on YouTube about this case and I definitely recommend a watch. I've linked to it in the episode notes and she really centres Christine and Shania as I do. So huge props to Emma and do give it a watch if you can. As usual, all my sources are linked in the episode notes, as are links to support for domestic abuse and mental health support if you need it. So let's delve into it.
Speaker 1:Christine, or Chrissy as her friends and family called her, and we will call her Hambers was 38 years old when she was killed. She lived in Braintree, essex, with her two daughters, chelsea, who was 10 years old, and Shania, who was two years old. She also had two other children, who were two older boys and who were adults when Chrissie and Shania were killed. The father of Chelsea and her two older boys was a man called Ian Flitt. Now Chrissie has been described as an amazing mother. She loved her children and was loved by them. She was popular and friendly and just really lovely woman.
Speaker 1:In 2005, after she'd split up with her ex-partner Ian, chrissy re-met David Oakes. Now Oakes was initially a friend of Chrissie's ex Ian, so she sort of knew him and saw him about town. But they got together properly in 2005 and had their daughter, shania, in 2008. Now, even though they were friends best men at each other's wedding. In fact, ian actually warned Chrissie about Oakes' reputation for violence and control. Ian actually warned Chrissie about Oakes' reputation for violence and control. Oakes was a former bouncer and, according to the BBC, was said to have quite a violent reputation in Essex. A neighbour of Chrissie's actually told the BBC quote Oakes always gave the impression of being a very violent man. You could hear their arguments through the walls. He comes across as the sort of person you wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of. So, unsurprisingly because of this and because he had a violent reputation.
Speaker 1:Oakes was a very violent and controlling abusive partner. Now Chrissie's eldest daughter, chelsea, talks about how she first saw Oakes hitting her mum when she was just seven years old and once saw him lift her off the ground when he had her mum pinned against a wall. On other occasions, oakes had tried to run Chrissie over and had also dragged her out of the house by her hair dragged her out of the house by her hair. Oakes was obviously a violent, abusive man who subjected Chrissy and her children to constant abuse. Now, because of this, chrissy left the relationship in April 2011 and she was just tired of the violence and control that Oakes inflicted on her.
Speaker 1:Because of this separation, there ensued a fight over custody of Shania, with both Chrissy and Oakes wanting full custody. Now this is quite a classic controlling perpetrator move, like they don't actually want full custody of their children, but they want to be able to exert control for as long as possible over their ex-partner, and Chrissy, at this point, had actually taken a non-molestation order against Oakes for his violence and harassment. Now, a non-molestation order is a family court order that can protect a victim and their children from domestic abuse, and breaching a non-molestation order is a criminal offence. A non-molestation order is a criminal offence. So since Christine left Oaks in April 2011,. Police had engagement with the family 10 times in just two months. Now we know and we talked about it in the previous episode and in many other episodes the risk of separation from a controlling partner, and we'll also talk a bit later about the risks around family court and child contact hearings. But, however, despite breaching the non-mol many, many times, oakes wasn't arrested or taken off the streets, and this is just so frustrating to me. As we've heard, breaching a non-m normal is a criminal offence. He should have been arrested and charged each time, but he wasn't. Sometimes information was recorded by the police, sometimes it wasn't. Sometimes a risk assessment was done, sometimes it wasn't. The police response here just wasn't good enough and we are going to talk about it later on. In the episode In June 2011, oakes told Chrissie that he wouldn't have anyone else being a father to Shania.
Speaker 1:The couple were due to go back to family court on the 6th in June 2011. This is this is going to be a really tough listen. On the night of the 5th of June, the night before, chrissy and Oakes were due to go to family court for a custody hearing for Shania, oakes broke into the house he used to share with Chrissy, chelsea and Shania. Now, chrissy and Chelsea had always suspected that he had a key to the house, so usually they would put like a block of wood across the door or like a chair. So even if someone did have a key they wouldn't be able to get in. But Chelsea said later on that that night they just forgot because they'd fallen asleep watching TV. Now, going into that house, oakes had planned what he was going to do. Indeed, he came very prepared and, according to the sentence remarks from his trial, brought with him a 12-ball shotgun and cartridges, a variety of sharp-bladed implements, an axe, a length of wire threaded through rubber tubing, heavy-duty pliers and some petrol. Now, as we've talked about, his abuse and harassment of Chrissie was escalating and it was clear that if he couldn't have Chrissy or Shania, then no one could. He was out for his final fatal revenge.
Speaker 1:Chelsea actually recounts her experience of that night to the Mirror newspaper 10 years later. She talks about how her and her mum were watching Family Guy and had fallen asleep in her mum's bed. She then remembers waking up and just seeing Oakes Having got into the house. Oakes had gone upstairs to Chrissie's bedroom, took a shotgun axe and can of petrol out of his bag and ordered Chrissie downstairs. Chelsea stayed upstairs with Shania, who was crying by this point.
Speaker 1:What he did to Chrissy that night was nothing short of torture. He forced her to remove her top so she was topless. He chopped clumps of her hair off and he beat her. He threatened to cut her nipples off and hurt her so much that she would need a wheelchair. That's what Chelsea heard when she was upstairs with Shania. Chrissy managed to run upstairs to the girls and Chelsea told the mirror that Chrissy said to her quote she was proud of me, she would always love me and would see me soon. Then she went back downstairs. She told me to go and get help. Now Chelsea did exactly that and jumped out of the bedroom window and ran to her dad Ian's house, which was only five minutes away. He called the police and they were soon dispatched to Chrissy's house. Just to say here how brave Chelsea was there. She must have been terrified for her life, for her mum, for her sister, but she did what she could to go and get help.
Speaker 1:Now, at this point, oakes continued to torture Chrissie. Not only did he beat her, but he cut her torso very deliberately and also shot her in the knee. Oh, she must have been in so much pain and I have no doubt that she would be thinking how could she protect Shania until help arrived? Could she protect Shania until help arrived? It's thought that Oakes then took Shania out of her cot so she would have to see the pain that her mum was in. Oakes shot Chrissie and killed her, and then did the same to Shania at point blank range. He then tried to take his own life by shooting himself. He did not succeed and would face the consequences of what he had done.
Speaker 1:Oakes faced trial in 2012 and I don't want to talk too much about the trial because it just focuses on him, but I do have to talk about one thing. During the trial, in a classic family annihilator move, david Oakes tried to blame Chrissie for the murder of Shania. He actually said that Chrissie shot her two-year-old daughter, not him. Was that, after he had tortured and abused Chrissy for nearly two hours, she took the shotgun from him and shot her daughter? Absolutely not, mate. I just can't with this guy. And referring to this claim from Oakes during the trial, detective Chief Inspector Godfrey O'Toole said quote Not content with what he had done, he later sought to excuse himself of his murderous acts and blame Christine for the death of her beloved daughter.
Speaker 1:The accusation was a vile and repulsive attempt to escape justice by a contemptible individual. I actually don't think I could have put it better myself. And we know that this is a common tactic used by perpetrators and family annihilators to try and excuse what they've done or sort of escape justice. You know, anthony Tote did it, christian Longo did it. They're all trying to blame their dead wives Chris Watts did it, if you remember for the death of their children. I mean, I just can't with these people. It's absolutely horrific and must be so painful to the families of, you know, the people and children that they've killed. But on 11th of May, despite his brilliant defence, oakes was found guilty of murder, was later sentenced to two life sentences, and the sentencing remarks from Justice Fulford articulate so brilliantly the impact of what he did and why he would spend the rest of his life in prison. I've linked to the remarks in the episode notes, but here are a few quotes.
Speaker 1:The judge started by talking about Chrissie's generosity when it came to child custody and contact. Quote. Miss Chambers had, for her part, made it clear that she wished to treat the defender generously. She recognised that he was important to Shania and that contact between father and daughter ought to continue. Now that is such a classic move by someone who just wants peace in their family. Yes, they have split up. She is no longer with him as a partner, but she recognises that he is Shania's father and wanted to sort of have that relationship and was willing to facilitate that. I think we see that so often with victims of domestic abuse that they want to have. They recognise the importance of that relationship and want to, you know, have an easy life with it. You know, not cause too much tension through like child custody issues, tension through like child custody issues.
Speaker 1:Talking about the actions of Oakes, that night the judge said, quote instead of thinking about his daughter, who he claimed to love, he concentrated on himself alone and most particularly his desire for revenge and his determination that he had expressed quite clearly on more than one occasion in the past that no man was going to be Christine's partner or was going to act as Shania's father. He resolved that if the family was at an end then they would pay for leaving him with their lives. Worse still, he decided that their last hours of life would be terrifying and, in the case of Christine Chambers, extremely painful. And I think this quote just so perfectly articulates the mind of the coercive controlling perpetrator he, you know, he has decided that if he can't have Chrissy or Shania, then nobody can, and that's his selfish decision. It has nothing to do with love for his daughter or ex-partner. And going on to talk about the claim that Oakes loved his daughter so much, the judge said quote he has claimed repeatedly that he loved his daughter and that he is a victim. The next door neighbour heard Shania crying for at least five minutes after Christine Chambers had been shot. That little girl must have been terrified. He then put the barrel of the 12-bore shotgun against her head, pulled the trigger no-transcript. The judge concluded that, quote this defendant killed two people in truly shocking circumstances.
Speaker 1:There is not a shred of mitigation and once again, I don't think I could have put it better myself. So in the sentence, in remarks that we've just read out from the judge, they made reference to the generosity of chrissy's child custody arrangements and how Oakes reacted selfishly and in revenge, taking their lives the night before a family court hearing, and it's not a surprise to me that he did that. We actually know that once perpetrators lose control of their spouse or partner, they will often use the family court and custody hearings over children as a way to continue that control. When I worked at Women's Aid, we did so much work on how perpetrators use family court proceedings to continue control, including bringing survivors back to court over and over again. Actually, until recently and Polly Neese and I talked about this on the episode with her and perpetrators were allowed to cross-examine their victims in family court during child custody hearings. Now, campaigning by women's aid and others have banned this, thankfully, but there are still so many improvements that are needed, including improvements of understanding domestic abuse, coercive control and the impact of abuse on children as well. Until these improvements are made, perpetrators will continue to use and excuse their behaviour in the family courts and they will continue to kill.
Speaker 1:Now, as well as the issues around child custody and contact, there are also lots of questions about police involvement and action, or lack of action, towards Oakes as a perpetrator of domestic abuse in the run-up to the murders. Now, as we talked about earlier, his harassment and abuse clearly intensified once Chrissy left him and they were trying to sort out child custody and contact, left him and they were trying to sort out child custody and contact. Police overall had 13 interactions with Chrissy and Oakes, 10 of which happened in April 2011 and May 2011 after Chrissy had left Oakes. So 10 interactions in just two months and this meant after the murders. Essex Police actually referred themselves to the Independent Police Complaints Commission or the IPCC, and the commission reported in May 2012.
Speaker 1:And I've linked to the report in the episode notes and the IPCC report found many issues with the police response to Chrissie Chambers. They include, quote a failure to identify or act upon evident escalation in the number of mischambers caused to police during the two months prior to the murders. This is such an important issue to highlight. So, as you know, I'm currently researching coercive control and intimate partner homicide for my master's dissertation and one of the key issues that I have seen and that is in evidence and studies is how police respond to and risk assess domestic abuse. The issue is that they focus on individual incidents rather than a pattern of abuse and control, which much more accurately demonstrates the risk and potential harm that victims might be at.
Speaker 1:So the second issue that the IPCC report found was quote on occasions Miss Chambers declined to make complaints about Mr Oakes or withdrew them. An insufficient regard was given to the context in which she was making her decisions, in particular the ongoing child custody proceedings. Her expressed fear of Mr Oakes was not taken into consideration as a potential motivation for not pursuing complaints against him. Oh, absolutely right here. We know all too well the impact that coercive control and the fear that comes with it can have on the willingness of a victim to go ahead with the prosecution with it can have on the willingness of a victim to go ahead with the prosecution. The Crown Prosecution Service is actually now focusing on something called evidence-led prosecution, where they don't necessarily need the victim's support to support the prosecution if they have the evidence. This is a positive development, so the victim doesn't have to feel like everything rests on their shoulders. All they want is to feel safe and it shouldn't be up to them about whether the police can arrest or the CPS can prosecute. Finally, the IPCC report stated quote Miss Chambers was involved in two parallel processes at the same time Court proceedings for custody of Shania and complaints about Mr Oakes' behaviour to the police, her solicitor CAFCAS, and the county court who issued the non-molestation order had substantial information concerning Mr Oakes' violence towards Miss Chambers, yet this is not available to the police or social services, and this is an issue that comes up again and again, particularly in the many domestic homicide reviews that I have read for my master's research.
Speaker 1:Information sharing about risk between agencies is severely lacking, and actually one of the most bizarre things that I found out about family court proceedings when I worked at Women's Aid was that criminal proceedings had sort of no impact on whether they saw the risk of domestic abuse or control. So a perpetrator could be literally going through criminal proceedings or having been convicted of a domestic abuse-related offence, but yet that was not taken into consideration in the family court proceedings. I think that is changing, but it was was not taken into consideration in the family court proceedings. I think that is changing, but it was just so bizarre to me. The IPCC report concluded that quote.
Speaker 1:Whilst individual police officers could and should have done things better, this is not essentially a failure of individuals, a failure of systems, essentially a failure of individuals, a failure of systems and as a result of this report, essex Police have made changes and hopefully improvements, in how they respond to domestic abuse. In 2013, her Majesty's Inspectorate of the Constabulary, HMIC, who oversee and inspect the police, actually investigated Essex Police's response to domestic abuse and found quote since 2011, essex Police has taken some important steps to improve the way in which it deals with cases of domestic abuse. We found the force has established good government governance arrangements in relation to the investigation of domestic abuse incidents. The focus is very much on ensuring that risk assessments are completed in a timely fashion and that no backlogs develop in the processing of cases. However, there is less emphasis on the overall quality of service provided to individual victims of domestic abuse. More needs to be done to ensure staff fully understand that taking a victim-focused approach to cases of domestic abuse is a critical aspect of homicide prevention. So it seems that although Essex Police made some sort of infrastructure changes, which are important, around governance and sort of backlogs of cases, they maybe haven't still got that victim-focused approach. As the HMIC said, that is about homicide prevention. So there's probably still some improvements needed.
Speaker 1:And, as well as these issues that were identified by the IPCC, I also super strongly believe that the danger of separation is so often misunderstood and underestimated by police and other professionals here, and we talked about this again in the last episode about Geraldine Shannon and Shane Newman. So often the focus of the police and other professionals response to domestic abuse is to separate the couple. So when they have separated, that is seen as job done, success, great news, let's move on. But actually, especially where there has been coercive control, the time of separation is so dangerous for women and children and is the time at which I believe the police response should be enhanced and improved. They should be jumping on any breach of an injunction like a non-molestation order. They should take harassment and threats seriously and also pay attention to child custody hearings that are ongoing as well. If that understanding is improved, then I believe women and children's lives can be saved. Women and children's lives can be saved. This episode is dedicated to Chrissy Chambers, a loving mother and much-loved daughter and friend, and to Shania Chambers, a cheeky two-year-old who has brought so much love and joy in her short life. I'm also thinking of Chrissy's other children and dedicate this episode to all of them.
Speaker 1:This has been Killer in the Family podcast written and produced by me, claire Laxton, with music from the brilliant Tom Box and Pixabay. I'll be back next week with another episode, so please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Don't forget to send me any comments or questions on a voice note or DM to my Instagram profile at killerinthefamilypod or via the send me a message link in the episode notes. Do let me know any stories you'd like me to cover as well. Until then, I've been Claire Laxton. This is Killer in the Family podcast. Until next time, take care, thank you. Thank you.
