A FAMILY liaison officer who went above and beyond the call of duty to support the family of Alison Connolly has been commended for her dedication to her profession.

DC Stella Bishop, who is based in Swindon, was presented with a number of awards including a Certificate of Excellence for the way she sensitively handled the high-profile murder case last year.

After building a rapport with Alison’s family, DC Bishop was asked to attend court for the entire case and she played a pivotal role in helping to ensure the family saw justice.

The humble 58-year-old said she didn’t know why she had been put forward for multiple awards on the night including long service and good conduct which honoured her 24 year service to policing.

“There were four family liaison officers that were involved with Alison’s family including her parents and her siblings and children.

“It is nice to think that what we did has been recognised because it was a lot of work from everyone.

“Not a lot of people realise orknow what goes on behind the scenes especially with family liaison officers supporting the families who are going through such an ordeal particularly in the public eye.

“For us, it was important to see the case all the way through and help the family as much as we could in dealing with what had happened. Grief is very difficult for people to deal with and everyone deals with it in different ways and with this case we had a lot of people to support.”

Following a crown court trial, Charice Gassmann was found guilty of murder and her sister Amber Gassmann was found guilty of manslaughter. Charice was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 19 years and Amber received a 12 year custodial sentence.

DI Bishop’s husband Mike added: “It is just lovely to see Stella being recognised for all of her work because she puts a lot into the job. Sometimes she would start work at 8am but not get home until gone midnight because that is how dedicated she is and she is never off duty.”

DI Bishop first started her career in 1995 at Bedfordshire Police and joined Wiltshire Police in 2009. Since then she focuses on cases concerning child protection.