Tania Moore was shot dead by her former fiance, Mark Dyche, in March 2004. She had been seriously assaulted nine months before and had made several complaints to police that Dyche had threatened to kill her. Her family claim that Dyche was able to mount a "campaign of intimidation" against Tania before he savagely murdered her.

Dyche was sentenced to life imprisonment in May of last year for the murder of the 26year-old and was told that he must serve a minimum of 30 years before being considered for parole. His appeal against his conviction was rejected earlier this month.

After initially sentencing Dyche to life imprisonment, Justice David Bean said, "The failure to act on Moore's report of the many harassing text messages [is a matter] of serious concern."

As well as sending threatening text messages to Moore, Dyche also stalked his former fiancee, following her into pubs and threatening to kill her.

The UK's Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) launched an investigation into the police handling of Moore's complaints just weeks after Dyche was sentenced.

The IPCC subsequently brought charges against eight police officers, although the charge against one officer was later dropped.

The hearing against the seven remaining officers opens tomorrow in Derby and is scheduled to last three weeks. The case will be heard by a three-judge panel, which includes one senior police officer. If found guilty, the officers may face penalties including the possibility of dismissal. The IPCC has been in operation since 2004, but this is seen as the most high-profile case it has had to deal with.

Speaking to the Sunday Tribune, Pat Moore, father of the murdered woman, welcomed the IPCC's decision to press charges against Derbyshire police officers. Moore said that questions remained as to how Mark Dyche was able to mount a sustained campaign of intimidation against his daughter in the months prior to her killing.

Tania Moore first met Dyche in early 2002 and the couple subsequently became engaged.

However, Tania ended their engagement in February 2003. Dyche immediately began his campaign against his former partner and in June 2003 he hired four men to assault her in her home. Moore was left needing hospital treatment following the assault, during which several items were stolen from her home.

Moore had made several complaints to police that her former fiance was making threats against her life, including one instance on new year's eve 2003 when, in front of several witnesses, he threatened to kill her. He followed her at night and told her he would shoot her dead. Dyche also told several friends that he wanted his former fiancee killed and offered to pay them to carry out the killing.

On 29 March 2004, he rammed her vehicle off the road and shot her dead at point blank range as she lay injured in her car. Dyche was the owner of a legally held shotgun, despite a history of violence.

Pat Moore, who will attend the IPCC hearing, questions whether more could have been done to protect his daughter. He says that he hopes the IPCC hearing might help to clear up questions that remain.

"Whatever happens, Tania won't be coming back, " he said. "Whatever happens to the police officers, they can still go home to their families every night. They can see their children get married and have their own children . . . I won't have that opportunity."

Tania Moore was the grandchild of Irish soccer legend Paddy Moore, who was the star of the Irish national soccer side in the 1930s. The Moore family moved to England following Paddy Moore's sudden death in 1954.