A grieving daughter yesterday accused police of putting a gun in the hands of a dog breeder who ‘executed’ her mother and sister.

Stacy Banner accused blundering officers of allowing her step-father John Lowe to have the murder weapon.

She had warned police repeatedly about the danger posed by Lowe after he threatened to kill her but a ‘flawed’ investigation by Surrey Police concluded he was fit to hold a firearms licence.

'Police were warned': Grieving Stacy Banner (left) yesterday accused police of putting a gun in the hands of dog breeder John Lowe (right) who 'executed' her mother and sister

Lowe was then given his seven shotguns back – and months later went on to shoot Mrs Banner’s mother Christine Lee, 66, her sister Lucy, 40, and four dogs in a bloody rampage at his ramshackle stud farm.

Police now face an independent inquiry after 82-year-old Lowe was yesterday convicted of the double murder near Farnham.

He will spend the rest of his life behind bars for killing his partner Mrs Lee and her daughter, who he said ‘had to be put down’.

Speaking outside Guildford Crown Court, Mrs Banner said her violent step-father should never have been allowed to have a firearm.

Couple: Lowe will spend the rest of his life behind bars for killing his partner Christine Lee and her daughter

Stepdaughter: Elderly Lowe was also convicted of murdering his wife's daughter Lucy Lee, 40, (pictured)

‘John Lowe pulled the trigger but it was the Surrey Police who put the gun in his hands.’

She said her sister and mother did not stand a chance when they were ‘brutally and deliberately murdered’ at close range with a shotgun.

‘The shotgun was one of seven that had been returned to him by the police only months before he used it kill,’ she added.

‘He held a shotgun licence despite the police being repeatedly warned by me and others about the danger he posed to society, allowing him to kill and kill again. Surrey Police should not be allowed to escape their responsibility for these deaths.’

Victim: Lowe said he had not meant to shoot Ms Lee, 66, but was found guilty of her murder

MY MOTHER'S JUST BEEN SHOT... I'M RUNNING FOR MY LIFE Frantic 999 call: Lucy Lee The step-daughter of double murderer John Lowe made a desperate 999 call minutes before she was gunned down. After witnessing her mother’s brutal death at the hands of the killer, Lucy Lee says: ‘My mother has just been shot. I am running for my life.’ Jurors at Guildford Crown Court were played a harrowing recording of the woman begging for police to be sent to their Surrey home, Keepers Cottage Stud, near Farnham in Hampshire. She said: ‘Right, my mother’s just been shot. Keepers Cottage Stud. My mother’s just been shot. Keepers Cottage Stud. Keepers Cottage Stud. ‘I need the police to come to Keepers Cottage Stud. GU10 2AZ.’ The clearly terrified woman is then heard breathlessly shouting to the operator: ‘I’m running for my life. He shot my mum. John Lowe.’ Miss Lee then decided to return to the dilapidated farmhouse where her mother had been slain, demanding that police send an officer who knew Lowe – DS Rafferty. She is heard saying: ‘I’m going to go back to him, bye.’ The operator responded: ‘All right, is the patient breathing? ‘Has someone been shot, did you say?’ Miss Lee then ended the 20-second call by saying: ‘Yes, Get Rafferty. I’m nearly outside the house and I fear he’s [Lowe’s] going to shoot me. I don’t know if I’m going to be alive if I go back in there. ‘He shot my mum. Bye.’ Following the frantic 999 call, Miss Lee’s body was found a short time later by armed police officers on the steps leading out of the farmhouse. She had been blasted in the chest and the back of the head by Lowe. Advertisement

Farm: Lowe shot the two women at his farm in Tilford, near Farnham, Surrey (pictured), on February 23

The double murder took place on February 23 this year off a quiet country lane in prime stockbroker belt, where homes fetch £1million.

Mrs Banner said she had repeatedly told police about the danger Lowe posed to her family, who were caring for the ageing pensioner.

She said Lowe had attempted to hire a hitman in 1997, asking a registered police informant to find someone to kill a previous partner who later died of cancer.

Dog breeder: John Lowe, 82, has been found guilty of murdering his partner and stepdaughter at his farm in Tilford, near Farnham, Surrey, on February 23

Last year he threatened Mrs Banner when he brandished a gun as she was washing up in his kitchen.

‘He said he was going to blow my head off, so I ran – and I ran for my life,’ she said.

Police confirmed they removed Lowe’s guns from his farm in March last year after she reported the threats.

But his weapons – including the shotgun used in the murders – were then returned to him in July.

Surrey Police has since apologised to the family and issued gross misconduct notices to three staff after independent expert reviews found the decision was ‘flawed’.

In a statement, the force said: ‘Whilst the full investigation into this matter remains ongoing, in light of these early findings we have spoken with members of Christine and Lucy Lee’s family to apologise for this.’

The Independent Police Complaints Commission is also investigating.

IPCC Commissioner Jennifer Izekor said relatives ‘deserve to know the circumstances in which the guns were returned to Mr Lowe’.

The watchdog said it has spoken to the police informant in the 1997 hitman threat and confirmed his allegations were part of their inquiry.

The informant, who said he had a business relationship with Lowe, claims he was told his information had been passed on to Surrey Police who decided to treat it as ‘intelligence’.

He told the Guardian: ‘From what I reported, he should not have been in possession of a gun licence since the late 1990s.’

It is understood no action was taken against Mr Lowe at the time, and he was not questioned.

Lowe, who denied murder and possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life, showed no emotion as the verdicts were returned by the jury yesterday. During his three-week trial, Lowe complained that Mrs Lee and her daughter had starved him and tried to put him in a home so they could take his land.

Angry: Speaking outside Guildford Crown Court today, Christine's daughter Stacy Banner said Surrey Police should not be allowed to 'escape responsibility' for their deaths and said officers 'put the gun in his hands'

Ms Banner (pictured left speaking outside Guildford Crown Court today) said she was not 'shocked' that Lowe (right) murdered her mother and sister because he had previously threatened to 'blow her head off' with a gun

The callous killer, who was pictured grinning in a police mugshot just hours after the shootings, told police the women had ‘treated me like s***’. Lowe told one officer: ‘They had to be put down. There was nothing else I could do. I have had terrible problems with Christine. They have not let me eat.’

He added: ‘They’ve been giving me s*** for weeks.’

It was only later that he began to claim their deaths were accidental, and tried to blame arthritis in his hands for setting off the gun. He said his shotgun went off three times – first, as Mrs Lee tried to grab it to stop him killing his four guard dogs.

Then he said he mistakenly shot Lucy Lee in the chest, adding: ‘The bloody gun went off again.’

Following her frantic 999 call, armed police arrived to find a ‘scene of carnage’ with dead guard dogs lying at the entrance to the property.

Inside the house, the body of Christine Lee, was found slumped in the living room, while her daughter had been blasted twice at close range in the back of the head and chest on the garden steps.

Guilty: Lowe (pictured in a prison van arriving at Guildford Crown Court today) was convicted of both murders

Police interaction: Lowe told officers after the shooting that the women 'had to be put down'

Isolated: Lowe (pictured with his puppies prior to the killings) claimed Christine and Lucy kept him shut away

Mrs Lee had known Lowe for 25 years after she came to the farm to buy a horse for one of her daughters. She initially acted as a carer for Lowe’s long-term partner as she was dying of cancer but later started an affair. She moved in after the partner died, and Lucy joined them.

But the relationship soured when the three rowed over money and the way the two women were taking care of Lowe and his animals.

Just two hours after the killings, Lowe coolly confessed to the murders – but not before asking police to ring the RSPCA so his £7,500 pet chihuahua could be rehomed.

Police footage showed how Lowe told custody officers: ‘I need you to ring the RSPCA. I put four dogs down... I did not want to leave them for anyone else to look after because they were all pushy and someone else would have got bitten.’

He added: ‘Also there is four pet dogs inside, little dogs, Chihuahuas to be rehomed. One is in pup in about a month’s time. I paid £7,500 for that.’ Police and animal welfare officers later rescued dozens of animals living in conditions of appalling squalor at the isolated farm.

Scene: Armed police arrested Lowe after finding Mrs Lee and her daughter dead at his farm in February

Weapon: Lowe used a .410 calibre double-barrelled shotgun - normally used for killing rats - to kill the women

THE SQUALOR BEHIND THE SMART GATES: INSIDE MR LOWE'S STUD With its smart brick and flint gateposts and elegant slate sign, there is little to indicate the squalor of John Lowe's Keeper's Cottage Stud. But it has been the subject of repeated investigations by animal welfare agencies, and as recently as last summer, more than 1,300 angry people signed an online petition calling for the animal to be closed down. In 2008 , journalists working on a BBC investigation into conditions at his animal farm interviewed customers who said they had bought dogs from Mr Lowe without knowing they were seriously ill. A smart slate sign with gold lettering is inlaid into the gates to the squalid animal farm where the women died The property has been the subject of repeated investigations by animal welfare agencies. Pictured: Forensic officers outside the farm on February 23 following the killings of Christine and Lucy Lee by John Lowe One customer who bought a beagle puppy from him said the dog fell ill within an hour of them getting home and died within days. She said: 'The farm was filthy but we were desperate to buy one. We were silly - we bought it on the spur of the moment. 'We thought we could take her away from there and give her a better life, but that didn't happen.' Another customer had to have his beagle puppy put down after it, too, became seriously ill soon after it was bought from Mr Lowe . In 2009 Mr Lowe was convicted of illegal dog breeding and described by a judge as a 'stubborn old man' who 'refused to give up his old ways'. He was fined £2,000 and banned from breeding dogs for five years by magistrates and the sentence was upheld by a judge at Guildford Crown Court when Mr Lowe appealed against the conviction. Advertisement

A total of 14 dogs and six horses were found living in filthy, crumbling, outdoor pens.

Amongst scrap metal and tumble-down outbuildings was also a rotting dovecote which held number of birds including parrots.

Lowe’s property was well known to officials following repeated complaints about animal cruelty. A year before the shootings, police, council staff and the RSPCA found 50 dogs at the once-picturesque farm, which the recluse bought in 1966 but let fall into disrepair. Lowe was investigated in 2004 and 2008 for breeding dogs illegally and selling puppies in poor condition.

He was also the subject of an investigation by BBC’s Inside Out programme, which claimed he was breeding scores of dogs who died or fell ill within days of being bought.

Lowe lost his licence to breed dogs for two years in 2005 and received a five-year ban in 2009. But neighbours told how he was always quickly back in business.

Last year an online petition with 1,300 signatures was collected calling on the RSPCA to close the puppy farm

Investigation: Police (pictured at the scene in February) arrested Lowe after he handed himself over to them

After yesterday’s conviction, Mrs Banner called for a change in gun laws. She said: ‘Why did he need those guns? Why didn’t they [police] take a statement from him?

‘Why wasn’t he mentally health checked? Why didn’t they do their job? Licensing cannot be left entirely up to the police.

‘There needs to be thorough and regular multi-agency assessments for would be gun-holders.’

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper called for reforms that would block licences for those with a history of violence or domestic abuse. Kevin Hurley, Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey, told Radio 4’s PM that ‘police failed in this case’.