A FORMER Lincolnshire police officer investigating the murders of Joan and John Stirland was warned to be careful who he spoke to in the Notts Police force the day after they died.

Speaking at the inquest into the deaths of the couple, former Detective Superintendent Graham White said he was visited by two senior Notts Police officers, known as Officer D and Officer I on August 9, 2004.

He said he was warned that Notts Police had a problem with information being leaked.

He said: "It was along the lines of advising me that I needed to be careful, that when they [officers] went into Nottingham to make enquiries that they needed to be careful who they spoke to. They had suspicions for some time that there was information being leaked."

Mr and Mrs Stirland were shot dead at their home in Trusthorpe in Lincolnshire on August 8, 2004.

The Stirlands were gunned down at home as revenge for the murder of Marvyn Bradshaw, a friend of Gunn's nephew Jamie Gunn, by Mrs Stirland's son Michael O'Brien.

Colin Gunn, 39, of Revelstoke Way, Michael McNee and John Russell of Northcote Way, were convicted of conspiracy to murder the couple.

Mr White, who now works for Lincs Police as a civilian, also spoke about how much of their police work and evidence for the case revolved around monitoring and tracking mobile phones.

He said this was challenging work as suspects often changed their phones including Colin Gunn.

He said: "He was of the habit of changing his mobile phone or changing the SIM in his mobiles and maybe both on a regular basis every three or four days so it was extremely difficult to track him down."