AN officer has defended Cheshire Police against claims by the family of a care assistant killed by her ex-boyfriend that they failed to protect her.

Giving evidence on the first day of Nicola Sutton's inquest, PC Warren Nomdedeu, a domestic violence liaison officer, said police had done everything they could.

The jury of six men and four women heard how PC Nomdedeu had offered Nicola and her mum a safe house while enduring Stone's terror campaign of witness intimidation while he was on remand for beating Nicola.

But they refused to accept as they did not want to be away from the family.

Nicola's mum, Lynn Sutton, aged 52, said in her evidence that she also did not believe it was necessary as they had jobs they were frightened of jeopardising.

PC Nomdedeu, who was assigned to Nicola's case in 2004 and who also investigated assaults on Stone's ex-wife Sarah Marshall several years earlier, said: "As an agency we felt we had made every step to try to get Nicola Sutton to a safer place due to our concerns and Nicola refused on several occasions.

"I had concerns about the worst case scenario. There were concerns about what Barry Stone and and his associates may do.

"But I felt there was nothing else that we could have done."

The inquest heard the care assistant agreed to make a statement against Stone when a 'rookie' police officer promised he would be sent to prison for a long time under the three strikes rule.

But the family said they felt 'totally let down' after he was freed on bail hours later.

He read her statement following his arrest and on his release threatened the 22-year-old to retract it.

The inquest heard PC Nomdedeu had encouraged Nicola to testify against her violent ex-partner to see he was jailed, despite her fear of repercussions, but she became intimidated by Stone on the day of the hearing and the charges were dropped.

In 2005, police installed CCTV cameras at Nicola's home in Orford in a bid to capture Stone's associates throwing bricks through their windows and who were also threatening to kill the family, including their pets, if she did not withdraw a second statement after Stone fractured her ribs and burst her eardrum in another violent assault.

A panic button was shortly afterwards installed at their home, paid for by the Suttons, flagging their address up to police so officers would prioritise any incidents at their house.

Cheshire Coroner Nicholas Rheinberg asked PC Nomdedeu why no attempts had been made to arrest anybody for witness intimidation.

The officer replied there had been insufficient evidence to prosecute anyone for harassing Nicola despite liaising with the prison service to intercept Stones' letters for proof he was menacing her.

The Suttons were also promised officers would patrol the area but during Nicola's stepdad's nighttime vigils outside their home watching out for intruders, he said he did not see one go past despite PC Nomdedeu's request for when officers were free to drive by.

Mrs Sutton added that officers would arrive at the house with no knowledge of the terrifying situation they faced with Stone. "Things were put in place but they never seemed to be carried out right to the end," she said.