CHELMSFORD MP Simon Burns said Essex Police must learn “many lessons” after an inquest found the force failed to protect Maria Stubbings.

But Mr Burns, below right, added he is confident the police will ensure such a tragedy does not occur again.

Maria 50, from Great Baddow, was strangled to death by Marc Chivers at her home in December 2008.

An inquest into her death ended last week, finding that the force's failings had contributed to her death.

The force has since admitted civil liability and will agree compensation with the family.

Mr Burns said: “Many lessons have to be learned from what happened to minimise it ever happening again. I am confident Essex Police have studied very carefully the failings that occurred and are determined to learn from the lessons of the past to ensure it does not happen again.”

The jury identified the incompetence of domestic abuse officers, failure to undertake a risk assessment and safety plan in October 2008 – when Chivers was released from prison for assaulting Maria – inadequate training and ineffective case management.

He had already served time in prison for murdering a woman in Germany in 2008.

A statement issued by Maria’s brother Manuel Fernandez, her daughter Celia Peachey and son Bengi Stubbings, who was just 15 at the time of his mum’s murder, said: “When any force operates without heart, compassion or accountability it is destined to fail. As far as we’re concerned, Maria’s murder is as much the fault of Essex Police as the murderer himself.”

The family has called for public inquiry.