16/07/2014 BBC Points West

Good evening. Channel, but now on BBC

A man who stabbed his ex`girlfriend to death as she worked

in a Gloucester hair salon has been sentenced to life in prison.

Asher Maslin bought a knife and burst into Hollie Gazzard's

workplace and attacked her as horrified customers lookdd on.

Asher Maslin was fiercely jdalous, possessive and violent.

He could never accept that his relationship was over

He sent her a text warning he'd get violent if she didn't get in touch.

After taking crack cocaine and drinking heavily

for three days, he's caught on CCTV in a shop in Gloucester selling

He then walks into Wilkinson's in the city centre and, intdnt

on killing Hollie, buys a c`rving knife with a six inch blade for ?3.

He spends two hours walking around before walking

into the salon where Hollie worked and stabbing her 14 times.

He's caught again on camera running away holding the knhfe.

I had to go and tell my wifd and Chloe, that their sister

That was the hardest thing in my life and since that d`y,

not one day has gone by when I have not thought about Hollie,

what she meant to us as a f`mily and we have to live day by day.

With many people in tears the court heard

Her father Nick and sister Chloe read out victim impact statdments,

saying that their lives had been destroxed.

She should still be here with us now.

We want to keep her spirit `live as much as we can.

She is incredibly missed by everyone.

The judge jailed Maslin for life, saying that Hollie's murder was

It'll be 24 years before he'll even be considered for rele`se.

We had no expectations, but total faith that the judge would do the

right thing by Hollie. To ensure the outcome would reflect the horrendous

We feel that the length of the sentence handed

down today means that we finally have received justice for

At the end of last year Hollie wrote on Facebook

If a person isn't happy within a relationship,

She wanted to end it because she saw the true colours

It was not right for her and she found it difficult.

He was controlling and therd were a few incidents where he disrdspected

us as a family and disrespected Hollie, we had to telling wd did not

Asher Maslin often had his head in his hands during the hearing

As he left court under high security his mother issued

Asher cannot explain why he did what he did.

All he can do now is express through us, his deeply felt sorry

for the pain which he has c`used to so many people.

The Police Complaints Indepdndent said today that two Commisshon

officers and a call handler police are being investigated for

misconduct in relation to complaints Hollie made to to police about

Maslin stealing money from her shortly before she was murddred The

A trust has been set up in her name to support to v`rious

charities including those who with the victims of domestic abuse.

And for her family, now that the court process is over they can move

on and concentrate on the trust and finally grieve for Hollhe.

The former head of social sdrvices in Wiltshire says there's now

a crisis in the profession across the country because of the

Ray Jones says social workers have been unfairly treated

Here's our Health Correspondent Matthew Hill.

Alex Cambell spent 16 years in the cut`throat business world

He's now in a social worker in Bristol looking

But over recent years Alex's profession has been under attack .

That's according to the former head of social sdrvices

His book baby on Peter Connolley, the toddler from Harringay who was

subjected to months of violdnt abuse before his death, is out today.

It argues that referrals to social services have rocketed

as a result and it's been more difficult to recruit and retain

I think a lot of people who were thinking about staying on

the front line are now thinking is that a sensible job to be doing when

I think social workers, police officers,

community paediatricians and doctors are having to cut corners to get to

As a consequence, we may not be spotting the children we nedd to.

Despite the so`called baby P effect, as well as the challenges

of meeting the needs of are`s like this, Bristol City Council are

still rated as good when it comes to child protection and it hs still

But elsewhere in the West the picture isn't quite rosx.

Somerset has been rated 'inadequate' by Ofsted.

They have 36 vacancies in Childrens social services and

their referal rate has risen from 500 cases in 2009 to 732 in 201 .

In Wiltshire, referals have trebled since 200 .

Referals have also doubled hn Bath and North East Somerset.

The social workers job that Alex loves still has its own rew`rds

But his profession is going to have to attract many more people of high

calibre if it is to meet thd growing challenges of protecting chhldren.

Somerset lost in the T20 this evening

Somerset batted first and reached 136`9 in their 20 overs,

That's it from us tonight. H'll leave you now with Ian who has the

A hot day developing tomorrow, the hottest of the year so far. It will

be humid with a good deal of sunshine. Through the weekend, that

hot weather will be surpassdd by thunderstorms. Saturday is ` day

which looks threatening. We will give you more details tomorrow.

Certainly keep an eye on thd forecast as there may be torrential

downpours in the first half on Saturday. Tonight we are losing

patchy showers, temperatures will be mild. 15`16. The legacy showers

tomorrow will leave low clotd. A spot of drizzle in the channel. As

the day wears on, a good de`l of sunshine across the board. Ht will

turn windier in Somerset. Temperatures will easily be in

27`28. We are likely to see similar values on Friday. Thunderstorms on

Saturday. towards Saturday morning. Time to

hand you over for the national forecast now.