Woman shot dead by estranged husband had told police she was a target

A woman shot dead at home by her estranged husband told police just weeks before she was killed: “I believe he will hurt me any way he can.”

Michelle Savage, 32, and her mum Heather Whitbread, 53, were gunned down in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, by former soldier Craig Savage.

Savage, 35, was found guilty of the murders yesterday and sentenced to a minimum 38 years.

He killed the pair and their pet dog Zeus after he stole an M4 semi-­automatic rifle from a nearby firing range.

The ­Independent Office of Police Conduct is now investigating Sussex Police after it emerged yesterday Michelle filed a report saying Savage was ­threatening her.

A week before she died she also reported him for vandalism.

In an online statement a month before she died, she told police: “I’m concerned for my and my family’s safety as he’s becoming more and more aggressive.

“He is a nasty, spiteful, bitter person. I believe he will hurt me in any way he can. I believe he wanted to kill or hurt me, I genuinely don’t know which.” She told friends: “They know what’s going on.”

Lewes crown court heard how, on March 16, Savage shot Michelle about six times as she begged for mercy and fired at her mum around seven times as she fled.

He claimed the gun fired by accident in a struggle, and said he had hoped to be shot dead by police. He gave himself up.

Michelle’s pregnant sister Raven ­Whitbread, 24, and grandmother Patricia Groves, 80, hid and escaped unharmed.

In a victim impact statement, Raven said: “I am haunted by what I saw that night. I have constant nightmares.”

CCTV was released showing him walking away from the house, rifle still in hand.

Judge Maura McGowan QC said the ­killings were “brutal, systematic and calm” and “every shot hit its target”.

She told Savage: “You have taken two lives and destroyed many others.”

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