A mother shot dead in her home with her four-year-old daughter handed police 100 threatening text messages from her ex-partner just days before the incident.

The bodies of Christine Chambers, 38, and Shania were found when officers stormed a property in Braintree, Essex, in the early hours of Monday morning.

They had been held at gunpoint along with Miss Chambers’s 10-year-old daughter, Chelsea Flitt, who managed to escape through a bedroom window after being told by her mother to “run, run, save yourself while you can”.

Miss Chambers had made a formal statement to Essex Police last week about David Oake’s threats to kill her over a bitter custody battle, and she had been making complaints to them about him for the past two years.

The couple were due to attend a family court hearing yesterday, just hours after the double murder.

Oakes, 50, Miss Chambers’s former partner and Shania’s father, was under police guard in hospital last night.

He allegedly shot the mother and daughter before turning a gun on himself.

Chelsea’s father, Ian Flitt, told the Telegraph his daughter had run to him home, screaming “he has gone mad with a gun”.

Essex Police commended Chelsea for her bravery.

Assistant
Chief Constable Gary Beautridge said: “I would like to pay credit to
the daughter who left the premises, who acted in an extremely brave
manner in what must have been very traumatic circumstances for her.”

Stuart Flitt, 26, who is a half brother to Chelsea, told the Daily Mail police had been given warnings about Oakes.

“The last time she made a statement was on Thursday – she was making statements to the police all week,” he said.

“She gave police over 100 text messages but they never took her seriously.

“These texts threatened to kill her – I had been staying round there for her own safety.”

Neighbours of the victims in Bartram Avenue have claimed police could have prevented the deaths.

One shouted at police: “You knew this was going to happen, you could have stopped it.”

Assistant
Chief Constable Gary Beautridge
added: “We have had two years of contact between him [Oakes] and the family
and as part of the investigation there will be a full and fundamental
review of the circumstances of this contact.”

The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating the incident.