THE grieving sister of an Irish woman brutally murdered in England has called for tough new measures against stalkers.

Louise Scannell and her family in Dublin say stalking complaints must be taken "extremely seriously" so that others can be protected against potential killers.

Dubliner Mary Griffiths (38) was dragged from her home, beaten, then shot in front of her terrified children by a man who had stalked her for two weeks.

"Our lovely Mary could brighten up any room with her smile. But now the world is a darker, darker place," said Louise (28).

"Our family will never be the same again. We hope our warning might prevent a horrifying attack on someone else," said mother-of-two Louise.

The family have now set up a fund to help Mary's three children after the horrific ordeal of the attack last May.

Mary grew up in a family of nine children, the eldest daughter of Joe and Kitty Ryan, of Grove Park Drive, in Glasnevin.

In the family home in Dublin, Mary was the first girl to be born after their parents had five sons.

She was known as a 'lucky' girl -- born on the seventh hour of the seventh day of the seventh month in 1970 and weighed seven pounds. At 18, Mary emigrated to London.

Ambitious

"She was a hard worker and was ambitious and she made her parents unbelievably proud," said Louise.

She was married in London but later divorced and lived with her three young daughters in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, where she was a fitness instructor.

Mary was popular and highly appreciated in the community and the mayor of Bury St Edmunds recently contacted her family in Ireland to inform them that the local council intended to honour Mary's memory in a public place in the English town in the near future.

The man who attacked her, John McFarlane (40), was a fitness training colleague.

Mary had been friendly with McFarlane and McFarlane's wife but it was purely platonic, said Louise.

Boyfriend

"Mary felt secure as she knew he and his wife were a couple," she said.

Louise said Mary had a boyfriend who lived two hours drive away. When Mary temporarily broke up with the boyfriend, McFarlane suddenly left his wife and began demanding that Mary begin a relationship with him. She refused, and McFarlane began bombarding her with letters, texts, and phone calls.

When the Englishman dishonestly claimed on his Facebook web page that he was having a relationship with Mary, she responded with a message accusing him of being delusional and declaring she would not touch him with a barge pole.

As the stalking worsened, Mary feared for her safety and she called the police for help. An official inquiry is now examining the police response.

The police had agreed to visit her home but then re-scheduled the visit to the next day.

But that night, McFarlane brutally murdered her after using an axe to break down her back door at 3 am and then cutting the electricity supply.

He then went upstairs to her bedroom, where she could barely move because of a very bad knee injury sustained in a fitness class. She had been sleeping with her daughter Hannah (10). McFarlane first attacked her in her bed then shot her with a bolt gun used to slaughter livestock in an abattoir.

As Hannah and her sister Jessica (13) screamed and tried to fight him off, the man threw their mother down two flights of stairs and into the street, where he shot her twice more. He also pistol-whipped Jessica during the attack.

Following the attack the family have received offers of help and Louise and her sister Irene have opened a fund that will be available to help with the children's counselling needs and education (see below).

The three children are now living with their English father.

McFarlane was found guilty of murder last week, with the judge recommending he serve at least 20 years.

McFarlane was said to be suffering from a "depressive illness and a doctor who examined him before the attack had judged that he was not a danger to people.

Louise told the Herald that her family had no inkling that Mary was being harassed by a stalker.

Firearms

"He was a wolf in sheep's clothing ... He was very calculating and had even telephoned the police just before the killing to say the farm where he worked was broken into and that firearms were stolen.

"The phone call was made near the police station so he could watch them go off in a different direction," she said.

"He knew she couldn't defend herself because she could hardly move because of her injury," said Louise, who lives with husband Andrew and two children in Stamullen, Co Meath.

aokeefe@herald.ie

- Alan O'Keeffe, Exclusive