A POLICE force failed to investigate properly the violent robbery of a showjumper which led to murder because its officers were busy inquiring into stolen chickens. Documents obtained by The Sunday Times reveal Derbyshire police assigned only one detective to investigate the brutal beating and robbery of riding instructor Tania Moore, 26, in June 2003. She was attacked by a pair of thugs wielding baseball bats who had been recruited by her former boyfriend Mark Dyche. He went on to shoot her dead nine months later.By contrast, the force deployed up to 40 officers, including an undercover team disguised as painters and decorators, to investigate the theft of chickens by staff from a poultry processing plant owned by a prominent businessman and former councillor, according to previously undisclosed documents.
A police source said: “The ‘chicken job’ came down from ‘on high’ to the officers who had to investigate — they were told to do it and give it the emphasis it got.” Even Detective Constable Louise Howarth, the sole officer assigned to investigate the attack on Moore, was subsequently told to focus on the hunt for the chicken thieves instead.
Moore’s mother Stella said yesterday: “Everyone suspects that the police prefer to solve easier crimes rather than tackle the really vicious criminals. In my daughter’s case, the results have been devastating. The police decided to investigate the missing chickens, possibly because it appeared more straightforward rather than finding out who was targeting my daughter, and as a result she was murdered.”